Comments

You make good points. While the pandemic is dangerous so are the measures we're taking against it that we know will last at least two years. We can't stay stuck in this initial phase (with an ongoing curfew in Fiji, for example). You mention the national airline but all the tourist industry and the industries that serve it are going through the same effects and restarting will be increasingly difficult. Fiji can't wait till the end of the year to hear from ANZ. They can open now safely around Nadi and keep Suva as another bubble for later.

The USG isn't banning flights to Fiji. It's the other way around. And the Fijian government is wary to open up because then they'd not be allowed into the ANZ bubble later. My idea is to have two bubbles so Fiji can open now to the rest of the world (and you can go in August) and then (when and if ANZ let's Fiji in) they can have a second bubble around Suva.

Hello from Samoa....it's great to be free of the virus during this entire time and able to move around and live somewhat normally within our borders.....but, we watch sadly thousands in other countries grieving for their loved ones dying of this horrible disease....tear jerking. Of course, the economy is really hurting with the complete blockade of tourists, but....at least we are safe for the moment....if the virus were to hit Samoa....OMG....due to the high number of diabetic people; even the entire government could be wiped out so fast.....not to mention that we have only a very few ventilators and isolation units in hospital....mildly put...it would be complete devastation...so....I hope, even though it's not easy.....that we can hold off for allowing tourists to enter, thus keeping Samoa virus free until a vaccine can be introduced....

It'd be difficult for the PNG government, currently fiscally strapped, to transfer cash to poor households. It appears highly likely that poverty would increase more than the conservative 5% consumption contraction estimate. That, however, doesn't cover the informal economy which experienced less of a contraction than did the formal economy. It'd be interesting to also see the impacts on poverty of different lock-down policies, and length of time they were imposed.

Went through the process of getting a drivers licence in Vanuatu in 2012, quite a slow bureaucratic process involving multiple offices but I got through it with a Vanuatu drivers licence at the end. Started the process in Timor-Leste in 2015, went to one chaotic office, told that the licence issuing function had moved out of Dili to an office in Hera, went out there, they were not very clear about the process, I gave up, kept driving on my Australian licence till the end of my stay. Feel sorry for all the Timorese who have to go through all these bureaucratic struggles on a regular basis.

Governments need to work together urgently to open the borders of Australia/NZ/Fiji and surrounding Pacific Island nations. There has been a huge overreaction to Coronavirus. Just how long can governments keep us separated from our families? Finally, as Fiji Airways has sacked most of its cabin crew-I am interested to see how they are going to put planes back in the sky. Terminated cabin crew-even if invited back to their flying roles-will mostly have run out of currency in Emergency Procedures. Standard service and emergency procedure training for new recruits -once accepted .-takes a minimum of six weeks.! And it is very expensive to train cabin crew. Our “leaders” (George Orwell’s 1984 comes to mind yet again) need to be in the same ballpark. Let us free!! By all means take temperatures and ensure travellers can be contacted! Enough is enough.

Too much focus on data collection can sometimes be to the detriment of actual service delivery in fragile health systems. In Nigeria, donors come with their own data tools and incentivize health workers to fill them to the detriment of the National tools. The cost of printing and dispatching mountains of paper tools to the thousands of health facilities is not often discussed. Because of cost, several health facilities have no tools with which to report to the national Health Management Information system. Apart from the greed for more data, let us also mention the incompetence/inexperience of those who respond to this hunger by designing, heavy, complicated instruments. An instrument is not just a list of questions...it’s meant to be a tool and can only be as good as the operator's capacity to understand and use it. As you rightly pointed out, our health workers are under-skilled, under-equipped and overworked. The data from the NHMIS reflects this..

Wow... Thanks for writing commerating one of the best, and honest public servants of our time. I like that you gave credit to his patriotism for the country through his work. Thank you.

An interesting piece by Mr. Bizhan. The very update regarding Afghanistan is that the state has stopped providing bread for vulnerable citizens, which was being done during the Ramadan month. However, the state officials (talking on Radio Arman) said that another package of direct aid will be provided soon; given that the "Soon" word in Afghanistan's state terminology sounds a joke since it literally means "never" or at best will take a long time.

Hi Stephen. Thanks for this. A press release is indeed a positive step forward in terms of openness and transparency compared to earlier actions. While funding for the Global Fund and GAVI is pleasing, it does highlight the lack of a clear aid narrative. Recently, the government expressed clear dislike for the “unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy” that GF and GAVI represent. Now with the revised COVID focused aid tilt, funding for them is increased. I have also heard that there is a new multilateral aid assessment being conducted (though not sure if it is using the same methodology as the ones conducted five or six years ago). Lots of strands - I do hope they are woven into a beautiful clear tapestry at some point...

Buai Spitting May spread COVID 19 Virus Buai spitting is very questionable and before we add into our COVID 19 Messages, we must confirm as one of the medium of transmission of COVID 19. The reason why I am saying is that the poster shown in this blog written "Buai Spitting may spread the virus". Are we really sure of it or just to raise fear into our people who chew and live with buai many thousand years. We need medical or scientific evidence to support the Phrase "BUAI SPITTING MAY SPREAD VIRUS (COVID19). I have seen the poster and i asked myself why do we have to come up with such messaging and disseminate this information to our people only to create fear and once fear is instilled into them, the community members who grow Buai lost their income and surely it will affect their livelihoods. Thanks

Hi Paul Like you I was very sorry to hear of his death. As a cruising yacht, I visit his island every year I visit PNG. Never saw him face to face, but we spoke on the phone, to see if my volunteer project could help his people.