Familiar faces join to unite against disease

While restrictions are beginning to ease here in Australia, our neighbouring countries continue to struggle in the devastation caused by COVID-19.

• Our closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea (PNG), has just one doctor for every 10,000 patients.
• In Timor Leste, there is only one ICU bed and one ventilator in the whole country, and up to 70 per cent of health posts have no access to running water.
• In the Pacific, boat access is often the only way to reach the 660 inhabited islands and atolls - making logistics and the delivering of supplies extremely difficult. 
• In the East Asia and Pacific region, 325 million children are out of school. Globally 1.5 billion youths have been affected by school closures.
• In Timor Leste and PNG, 50 per cent of children under five are stunted due to malnutrition. With parents and carers out of work and heading for economic downturn - particularly given the region’s huge reliance on tourism - many families will no longer be able to afford essential nutrition and health supplies.

When we ask if you’ll unite against disease, we're not just asking you to help us protect children from devastating disease outbreaks, we're asking if you'll join us to prevent the hidden impacts of disease - disruptions to education, weakened health systems and increases in cases of severe acute malnutrition.

Make a tax-deductible gift and together we can unite against preventable disease and the devastation it causes for the world’s most vulnerable communities.