Essential Around 20 women and girls in Western Province have been given dignity kits from UNFPA ahead of a vigil at Good Samaritan Care Centre in Kiunga.

Each kit contains essential hygiene items including soap, toiletries, and pads, in additional to a towel, slippers, and solar light. These supplies were a welcome gift for these women and are just some of the hundreds of kits provided by UNFPA to women across the country, including new mothers and asylum seekers in Western Province and displaced persons in Hela.

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The women gathered, together with other men and children, to commemorate those in their community who had lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. This annual vigil is an opportunity to remember those they have lost and to reconnect with those who share their experience.

During the COVID pandemic, UNAIDS Papua New Guinea has been working to ensure a regular supply of essential medicines for persons living with HIV across the country. In Kiunga, some people travel over 100kms to collect a three-month supply of medication from the sisters at Good Samaritan. Provisions of essential supplies, like those provided by UNFPA, are valuable in demonstrating to these often-ostracized communities that the UN is committed to leaving no one behind during the COVID pandemic.

Local staff from IOM has been assisting the distribution of kits in Western Province as UNFPA and IOM continue to support strengthened water, sanitation and health projects in North Fly District as part of the COVID-19 Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

 Originally published on United Nations PNG