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Suva (Fiji) - Today the Kiribati High Commission in Fiji received ICT equipment on behalf of the Ministry of Health. The donation of this equipment is a significant step towards bolstering Kiribati's response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and will assist the Ministry of Health in its efforts to monitor and control the spread of the virus in the country.

The Pacific Community (SPC) procured the ICT equipment with funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The ICT items include 76 Samsung galaxy tablets, laptop and video conferencing equipment, and an apple iMac CPU. 

Mr Tebuai Uaai, High Commissioner of Kiribati to Fiji said, “This equipment will contribute towards improving our data collection and strengthening our health information systems. While our Kiribati health workers continue to receive training and capacity development, ensuring that we have the right tools and equipment to carry out fieldwork and complement ongoing efforts is crucial, and we thank SPC and USAID for this timely support”. 

“The American people, through USAID and SPC, are proud to partner with Kiribati to provide improved health services to its people,” said U.S. Ambassador Marie C. Damour. “This equipment complements the over 50,000 COVID vaccines the United States provided to support Kiribati’s recovery from the deadly pandemic.” 

SPC together with FHI360 (Family Health International) are the implementing partners for the Pacific American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funded Vaccine response project in Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tonga, and facilitated through the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC), a five-year USAID global project. EpiC receives COVID-19 funding to prevent, prepare for, respond to and bolster health systems to address COVID-19 and reduce cases of re-emergence in the Pacific while rolling out further support through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-funded Vaccine response activity. 

Sunia Soakai, Deputy Director for SPC’s Public Health Division said, “it is encouraging to support the efforts for Kiribati as they identified the ICT equipment needed to enhance its health system performance and through this support, we hope to add value to the much-needed efforts in data collection, management and information sharing which are the cornerstone in meeting SPC’s efforts in innovation, digitalisation and technology for improved effectiveness and efficiency within its MoH allowing Kiribati to own and lead changes needed for health services improvement.”