SYDNEY, April 26 (Reuters) - The capsizing of a boat

carrying childhood vaccines and health workers in Tuvalu

underscored the challenges of healthcare in remote Pacific

Islands as they battle extreme weather caused by climate change,

the U.N children's agency UNICEF said.

UNICEF supports Pacific Islands with reliable supply of

vaccines, a priority in a region where hospitals can run out of

medicine because of remote locations.

Extreme weather in low-lying atoll nations such as Tuvalu,

which is impacted by climate change and rising sea levels, was

also creating health challenges, UNICEF's Pacific health

specialist Frances Katonivualiku said.

"Health workers took vaccines to one of the remote islands

and the boat capsized - the vaccines, health workers, everyone

in the water. It is a really challenging situation," she said in

a telephone interview from Tuvalu on Wednesday.

In the incident last Monday, the health workers were rescued

by islanders who took them to shore on the southern island,

before they returned to the nation's capital Funafuti, she said.

"We don't have many health workers, so it is the same people

that will need to recuperate and then go out again," she added.

Tuvalu's national election result was delayed in February

after lawmakers were unable to travel to Funafuti from outer

islands for two weeks because of king tides and extreme weather.

Scientists predict Funafuti risks being inundated by 2050

because of climate change.

Dr Katonivualiku, who is visiting Tuvalu from Fiji for the

immunisation programme, said extreme heat also made it difficult

for mothers to bring babies to receive vaccinations during the

day, so they had switched to evening clinics.

UNICEF had supplied fridges to ensure vaccines are stored at

the correct temperature.

UNICEF said it had reached a milestone this week of nine

Pacific Island nations, including Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu,

Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Tokelau and Kiribati, committing to

introduce childhood vaccines for Pneumococcal, Rotavirus, and

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in their national immunisation

programmes.

"We are seeing a tangible decrease in instances of pneumonia

and diarrhoea since we have introduced these new vaccines. It is

having an impact on the lives of children because these are the

major causes of death in children under five," she said.