The capsizing of a boat carrying childhood vaccines and health workers in Tuvalu underscores the challenges of health care in remote Pacific Islands as they battle extreme weather caused by climate change, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF says.
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UNICEF supports Pacific Islands with a reliable supply of vaccines, a priority in a region where hospitals can run out of medicine because of remote locations.
Extreme weather in low-lying atoll nations such as Tuvalu, which is impacted by climate change and rising sea levels, was also creating health challenges, UNICEF's Pacific health specialist Frances Katonivualiku said.
"Health workers took vaccines to one of the remote islands and the boat capsized - the vaccines, health workers, everyone in the water," she told Reuters from Tuvalu.
"It is a really challenging situation."
Health workers rescued by islanders following the incident on Monday were taken to shore on the southern island before they returned to the nation's capital Funafuti, she said.
"We don't have many health workers, so it is the same people that will need to recuperate and then go out again," she said.
Tuvalu's national election result was delayed in February after MPs were unable to travel to Funafuti from outer islands for two weeks because of king tides and extreme weather.
Scientists predict Funafuti risks being inundated by 2050 because of climate change.
Dr Katonivualiku, who is visiting Tuvalu from Fiji for the immunisation program, said extreme heat also made it difficult for mothers to bring babies to receive vaccinations during the day, so they had switched to evening clinics.
UNICEF had supplied fridges to ensure vaccines were stored at the correct temperature.
UNICEF said it had reached a milestone this week of nine Pacific Island nations including Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Tokelau and Kiribati committing to introduce childhood vaccines for Pneumococcal, Rotavirus and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in their national immunisation programs.
"We are seeing a tangible decrease in instances of pneumonia and diarrhoea since we have introduced these new vaccines," she said.
"It is having an impact on the lives of children because these are the major causes of death in children under five."
Australian Associated Press
