The fight against tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea's Western Province is making progress as a new TB ward takes shape.
The new 22-bed ward at Daru General Hospital is part of a multi-million dollar aid package from the Australian government.
It aims to ensure the province has the facilities to treat TB victims rather than have victims seek help in clinics across the Australian border in Torres Strait.
The ward is just one part of a broad range of measures the Australian aid agency, AusAID, is supporting to help PNG fight the disease.
Also under the programme mortality rates for drug-resistant TB in Western Province have been cut dramatically, while detection of the disease there has risen by 30 per cent in the past year.
