- Four outreach trips were made to PNG from March to August 2019 to fit in with the East Sepik Provincial Health Authority plans and our responsibility to grant providers, in particular the Australian government. - Living Child’s Care Groups plan was launched in Yamen Village 1 & Village 2. It has been well received by the whole community. The team of volunteers have done great work in developing the teaching materials for the local volunteers that is simple and culturally appropriate. Communities are reporting positive outcomes such as cleaner households and surrounds, better nutrition, hand hygiene, fewer cases of diarrhoea and fever and less malaria which they relate to the Care Group program. Surrounding villages have noticed health and community development improvements in the Care Group villages and are asking for the same program to start in their own village. Our plans for 2020 include expanding Care Groups to Bunam in the upper Keram River area and Manu, a village upstream of Yamen. This will only occur if they have put into place some simple preparations for Care Groups that we intend to advise them on. - The Men’s Health training conducted in August 2019 was very successful and met a need as identified by the villages. The men responded well to the material and are keen to be taught how to conduct this training in other villages themselves. A key benefit of the training was the opportunity for young men to have their voice heard by the older men and for the men of the village to work collectively irrespective of age to work together to improve family life in the villages. The health of women and children depends on the attitudes and leadership of men. Further developing and expanding this program is therefore part of our long-term strategy. Julie Baleu, a PNG Nurse now living in Perth developed and led this project. - We conducted two, 2-week long midwifery upskilling courses in partnership with the WA Health Department and East Sepik Provincial Health Authority. 2 expert midwifery educators volunteered their time in Wewak to teach the courses. 24 Health workers, mostly midwives working in very remote health centres, from all over the Province were invited to attend the training. - In partnership with Birthing Kit Foundation of Australia we have supplied close to 1000 clean birth kits to Village Birth Attendants [VBAs] and Health Workers in the remote Keram River area and Angoram Hospital. An outreach team in March and August conducted training and assessment of competency for VBAs using the kits and providing care during birth. - In March we piloted a program to assess the acceptability and feasibility of teaching VBAs to use chlorhexidine antiseptic gel for newborn cord care during the first week of life in accordance with WHO recommendations. 100 tubes of gel were distributed to VBAs and Health Workers. - Please see our Facebook page for regular updates of Living Child Inc. activities.