- Plans to bring Cuban doctors to work in remote areas of PNG are being discussed by the two countries' respective leaders.
- PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has proposed a ban on home births to address high maternal and infant mortality rates. His proposal has been labelled unrealistic, as roughly half of women give birth in rural villages.
- Over at DevPolicy, Bal Kama has examined the 2017 PNG election through the lens of a post-Trump world as an opportunity for change.
- An attack on a convoy of MPs in PNG’s Hela province has crontributed to tensions in the region.
- PNG has made National Geographic’s Top 21 Best Trips for 2017 list.
- Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai faces a vote of no confidence in parliament, following backbencher disharmony about the proposed income tax changes.
- Vanuatu has become the first country in the Pacific region to sell Rainforest Carbon Credits, the profits of which will be used to manage conservations areas. Fiji and the Solomon Islands are predicted to follow.
- A global money transfer company will expand its services to Fiji and Tonga. Remittance corridors in the Pacific are some of the most expensive in the world, with the economies of countries such as Samoa highly dependent on remittance income.
- Fiji is hosting the first Pacific Feminist Forum, with 100 people from ten Pacific nations coming together to discuss and advance gender equality in the region.
- The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign was launched across the Pacific on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Associated activities include workshops in the Solomon Islands and a working group on Family and Sexual Violence set up by the Fiji Council of Churches.
- A march to PNG's parliament was held by the UN Women PNG 'Sanap Wantaim' campaign ('The New Normal'), lead by the PNG U20 Women’s Soccer Team (who also feature on the cover of the latest issue of Stella magazine).
Photo: Flickr/Taro Taylor
