New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters has announced NZ will contribute around $3.7 million to help limit dengue fever in Fiji.

Peters says the funding will go to the World Mosquito Programme, which uses natural, effective and self-sustaining methods that limit the ability of mosquitoes to spread the illness.

These methods are currently in use across four continents.

The Minister says New Zealand’s contribution will expand the geographic scope of the Programme’s efforts in Fiji from Suva to include more than 120,000 people in other areas, including Nadi and Lautoka.

He says the contribution to the Programme is a recognition of the importance of the Fiji-New Zealand relationship and the need to address issues of communicable disease on a regional level.

The programme was implemented in partnership with the Fijian Government last month.