Activities in Papua New Guinea

1. Introduction & Background

Enga province is one of the highest average altitude provinces in Papua New Guinea. Especially Laiagam District which is located in a rural area away from the main town, and there are obvious gaps in health services compared with urban areas. This is due to geographical factors, inadequacy of medical facilities, social factors, and lack of information to people in the communities.

It is difficult for pregnant women and mothers with children in the highland areas to go to health facilities because of the long distance and unavailability of public transport. Even if the people arrive at the facilities, in many cases, they are not able to receive adequate medical service and delivery support because medical equipment and trained medical staffs tend to concentrate in urban areas. In such areas where mobility to the facilities is difficult, mobile clinics are to be done by health facilities, but frequency and contents are not sufficient due to various factors. In order to improve the health condition of the people in the above environment, it is necessary to provide appropriate medical services including mobile clinics and awareness-raising activities focused on health promotion and disease prevention.

The project aims to assist Enga PHA and health facilities provide appropriate medical services to the people who live far away from and/or have limited access to health facilities (especially for women) through awareness-raising activities for a community, improvement of mobile clinic service and enhancing management of health administration. As a result, this project contributed to improving health service delivery in Laigam district, Enga province.

2. Basic Information

• JICA Cooperation Scheme (Ex. Technical Cooperation, Loans, Grand Aid…)
  Grass Roots Technical Cooperation
• Target Development Sector: Health sector
• Target SDGs: 3
• Counterpart Organization (Web URL)
  Department of Health: https://www.health.gov.pg/ (external link)
• Duration (Ex. Jan/2019-Dec/2021)
  Feb 2018-July 2022
• Target Provinces, Location : Enga Province
  Health Facilities in Laiagam District (1 District Hospital, 2 Health Centers, 2 Community Health Posts, and 9 Aid posts)
  - Community leaders and Village Health Volunteers
  - People who live in the target area

3. Outline of Project

• Project purpose
  Women in the target area are able to receive adequate health services
• Overall goal
  Women's health in the target area is improved
• Outputs
  1. People in the community know more about health and recognize importance of disease prevention
  2. Mobile clinic services which are conducted by health facilities improve and function properly
  3. Management system of the government is established

Snap Photos

HANDS International, Japanese NGO, consultant with Village Health Volunteers

A Village Health Volunteer administering Polio Vaccine to an infant