NZer to help in PNG cholera outbreak

A New Zealander is heading to Papua New Guinea tomorrow to help development charity Oxfam respond to the country's first cholera outbreak.

Oxfam contracted logistics officer Dave Neru to help co-ordinate distribution of emergency supplies , including water containers, mosquito nets and tarpaulins, to areas where cholera cases have been reported. People were also suffering from dysentery and influenza.

He would also help provide supplies to establish a field hospital specifically for cholera sufferers.

In the Morobe and Eastern Highlands province there had been 190 reported cases of cholera with nine deaths, 4647 cases of influenza with 56 deaths, and 788 cases of shigella dysentery with 39 deaths.

Mr Neru worked with Oxfam's emergency teams in response to the Boxing Day Tsunami, and in Papua New Guinea following Cyclone Guba in 2007.

- NZPA