The consequences for Papua New Guinea and Australia of low covid vaccine acceptance in PNG

Infant mortality rates are alarming, and diseases such as malaria, cholera, HIV Aids and even polio, are either increasing or at best stagnant.

It is hardly a wonder given the run down state of most hospitals, including major hospitals, and the alarming condition of most rural health centres. About half the health centres of the nation are ether closed completely or effectively inoperative because of a lack of trained staff and vital medicines.

The people of Papua New Guinea regard the health system as a failure. One saving grace is that most church-run hospitals and health centres are functioning efficiently even with delays in the provision of much needed funding support from the national government. Another is the work still being done under difficult circumstances caused by border closures by groups such as YWAM, and NGOs in the health sector.

What Australia should be considering with urgency is how we can play a substantial role of rebuilding the health system and in the process restoring public confidence in it.

That is a herculean task I know but here is how we can made a substantial impact as soon as possible. And if we don't want a crisis far worse than Covid-19 incidence on our border it just has to be our focus.

I would start with properly resourcing key national hospitals starting with Angau Hospital in Lae. We should seek the approval of the PNG Government to effectively take over the management of Angau. Australia paid for a much needed rebuilding program but it needs more skilled staff and resources,

Port Moresby General Hospital is also under pressure because of Covid-19 cases (Port Moresby has had over 4,700 cases already). It needs help as well.

But why taking over Angau as first priority makes sense is the capacity to help meet the urgent health needs of the Highlands Region (40 per cent of the national population) and Momase (Madang, Wewak etc) which are more accessible to Lae than Port Moresby.

If Australia managed and resourced Angau it could readily help improve health services in at least half the PNG provinces provinces through the better provision of medicines, and skilled staff.

That is just the first step I believe we must look at. It won't stop the spread of Covid-19. It might slow it though, and it has a real chance of delivering on the first step to getting the people to accept vaccination against the disease. If the health services available to more than half the population are noticeably improved in a short period, then community confidence may increase enough to lift vaccination rates.

It is certainly worth a try – because what exists today is a growing social and health catastrophe we simply cannot afford to have on our northern border, and across every community in our good friend and neighbour.

In my next contribution I will look at how the Australian Government can help worthy groups such as Youth With A Mission (YWAM) which I happily concede I helped take to Papua New Guinea just over a decade ago and a small number of medical and health NGOs doing good work under trying circumstances in Papua New Guinea.