Aid failing to prevent PNG's health catastrophe

By Jo Chandler
Updated November 9 2012 - 11:45pm, first published September 8 2011 - 2:15pm
Poor health ... Soba's four-year-old son Sawai Naruwa lost the use of his legs after contracting tuberculosis.
Poor health ... Soba's four-year-old son Sawai Naruwa lost the use of his legs after contracting tuberculosis.
Children play near a dirty drain in Daru.
Children play near a dirty drain in Daru.

IN A row boat at low tide, the distance between one of the best health systems in the world and one of the worst can can be easily travelled in less than 15 minutes. So it is not surprising that over the past decade some 200 people sick with tuberculosis have been bundled into boats by their families and ferried across this frontier, the narrow band of water separating Papua New Guinea (a nation ranked 137 out of 162 in the UN World Development Index) and islands that are outlying territories of Australia (ranked No. 2).

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