The Kwikila Health Center in the Central Province is privileged to have two female doctors now stationed at the health Center after it was organized by the Provincial Health Authority (PHA) in order to improve services at the hospitals. District PHA Chief Executive Officers (CEO) was present at the occasion together with his team to witness the launching that took place. The allocation of the female doctors came about after the launching of Doctors instalment on Monday 23rd January at the hospital. Sister in charge Anna Atop, also explained that the hospital will be looking into extending its buildings, constructing new labor wards and staff houses and there will be a renovation carried out in all the staff houses of the Kwikila Health Center. “The management have planned and is soon to have this major improvement project carried out”. “We have realized that, we need to build more houses to accommodate health workers at the hospital premises”. Meanwhile in terms of medical drugs, the hospital has not received its new supply of drugs. Sister Atop reported there are no drugs at the moment and this has affected the treatment of sick patients at the health center. “We had around six cases which included incidents from alcohol and domestic violence in our communities”. Besides that, they also received two pregnant mothers at the emergency ward, which the staffs were able to quickly attend and delivered their babies well with no major complications.

Obert Piawa who hails from New Ireland and Manus Province is persistent about achieving his dream of becoming a qualified PNG rep for athletics. The 24 year old has been in athletics in New Ireland for four years and is looking forward to stepping up his game in upcoming competitions. He took up the role of being the team captain for the New Ireland Athletic team representing the province in various athletics competition. Obert, who currently resides in Kavieng in the New Ireland province, is the third born of six siblings in their family and has been trained by one of PNG’s well known athletes, Shibul Babo. His major track event is the 800m sprint and minor event is the 1500m and 400m sprints. Whilst studying at the International Training Institute and National Fisheries College in Kavieng, Obert tried his best to tackle multiple tasks in order to be physically and mentally fit, so to avoid unnecessary injuries when on the track. “It’s quite challenging. I have school assessments and tasks to do, training every afternoon and following my timetable to stay fit is too much on my plate. Also, being the team captain for the athletics team for the province is challenging but I still got through”, said Mr. Piawa. The young athlete is confident that New Ireland has the potential to produce more young runners and with the support from the provincial government and business houses. “More sporting facilities, more participation from the government and proper funding from different sources would greatly promote this sporting code within the province” “Athletics is the baseline of all sporting codes so if any individual performs well in it, it will be easy for them to develop their skills to try other games”, said Obert. He also highlighted the absence of proper funding for the association when they had travelled to Kokopo last September to compete in the NGI Regional Championships, saying that athletes were self-sponsored to take part in the event. “We had been preparing for 4 months to take part in the NGI Regional Championships in Kokopo last year but sadly, 26 of us out of the 32 athletes were able to self-sponsor ourselves to Kokopo.” “With the 26 athletes who went down to compete, they returned with 27 medals from different track events. This clearly shows that our athletes have the potential to excel in the field of athletics”, said Obert. With this, he encouraged young New Irelanders to participate in athletics and to focus on achieving their goals. “Giving up is never an option. You have to achieve what goals you have in place and trust the process while you at it. This may be in your school, work, job, or training.” Mr. Piawa finished off by stating that the more involvement of youths in such activities, will reduce nuisance and criminal activities caused by them in their communities. As sports can take them anywhere in the world and furthermore provide more educational opportunities for them.

Twenty two student leaders at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) campus in Port Moresby, were taken through the final briefing of their student leader trainings this week before they eventually start the training program. The student leaders were advised by the Acting Warden of Students and Staff on their training that is going to eventuate during the beginning of the semester one. Peer Education Coordinator Mr. Benaiah Nari, encouraged the student leaders to take leadership roles as part of building their character for future endeavors. He highlighted the training programs and brief the students on what to look for and expect in the training. “There are follow up programs that we can take you through and help you and we like that every student leader to be present”. “This will help keep you on track and follow up with your leadership challenges”. ' He said, being a student leader, you must fill yourself first before you give out to someone out there. “Focus on building yourself, because once you leave this place you will not have the opportunity to experience that again. We have already organized special leadership trainings, which we would like you all to go through”. Meanwhile, several student leaders have been already given accommodation at the Games village as a temporary place to stay, while some are still making their way to the campus.

After a successful hosting of the preseason last Sunday at the Sir John Guise outdoor stadium, the Capital Touch Association is looking confident to kick off their tournament for this year 2023. According to President of Capital Touch Association Mr. Greg Donald, his executives are set and ready to coordinate the Competition. Recently Six new teams have joined and will be added onto the draws for the proper season. The Proper season will begin in February after they complete the final rounds for preseason games this weekend, Sunday 29th January. In a meeting held by the executives recently, President Donald highlighted that the proper season will run for 30 weekends and teams are advised to pay the registration fee of K1, 500, which covers all the divisions. Beside that, PNG Sports Foundation has shown interest and will be assisting with development program supporting the under 10 and 12. Organizing committee Billy Karava mentioned that they have also engaged the PNG Sports Foundation High Performance Manager Vavine Yore, which she will be working closely with them in providing support to athletes from time to time. Mr. Karava explained that their main goal at this time is preparing the best athletes or players before they move on to under 18 and to other categories. “So, by the time they enter into much higher stage like the World Youth Championship in Australia, they can be able to handle their games well and show good sportsmanship”. “It is a long-term program and we are setting our goals to reach in the next five years for these Kids”.

Child Fund Papua New Guinea (PNG) has donated a set of braille learning packs to Callen Services in Gerehu in Port Moresby for students with special needs yesterday. The donation ceremony was attended by National Department of Education Reps for inclusive education along with the Project Manager and Country Director for Child Fund PNG, with the presence of the Callen staffs. The ceremony took off with the Country Director for Child Funds Anand Das revealing that the organization is in partnership with the National Department for Education and other education agencies to implement the Education Emergency Response and Recovery Plan (EERRP) project. “We are working with the guidance of the National Department of Education and also the provincial Departments of education to implementing this project which has already been approved” “We are getting support from the UNICEF and Australian High Commission in terms of grants and funding along with other donors to support and implement Global Partnership Education (GPE) through the EERRP Project”, said Mr Das. According to Project Manager Mr. Rhett Koswan, he clarified that the objective of the project was to sustain learning after the Covid-19 Pandemic and taking into consideration students with significant needs. He gave an overview of the implementation of the project in different provinces within the country. “This will enable teachers and officers to be equipped with necessary skills and tools to be able to identify and cater for students with particular significant and emotional needs.” “The Disaster Risk Management program reached almost 3, 000 schools across the five provinces for this program and the five provinces are NCD, Morobe, Madang, Sandaun and Western Province, and the Psychological Support Program has almost reached 6, 000 teachers in all of the baseline schools that were identified in the survey for the EERRP Program”, said the Project Manager Mr Koswan. The Disaster Risk Management program and the Psychological Support Program fall under the main EERRP Project and has been carried out in the 5 provinces and will be extending its arm throughout this year according to Mr. Koswan. The Education team for inclusive learning led by Director Arnold Koima received the braille learning equipment from Project Manager Mr. Koswan and in his act of gratitude he commented that these materials will go a long way in helping and sustaining education for those students with significant needs in Callen and the country as a whole. Senior Teacher for Callen Services Ms. Noring William expressed her gratefulness to Child Fund along with the NDoE for their efforts in putting this together. “We are very thankful on behalf of the resource centers in the country and grateful that you have selected Callen Services Inclusive Education Resource Center (IERC) Gerehu and it is a privilege to have you guys here to present this assistance such as the adult kits, learning materials, as well as the aesthetic devices to improving learning for our special students”, said Ms. Noring.

The Student Services Department at the University of Papua New Guinea is now looking forward to receiving the new intakes for 2023, starting on the 29th to the 31st of January. According to Acting Warden of Students Mr. Henson Niangu, they are preparing towards receiving the first-year students include providing temporary accommodation and meals at the International residence, Games village. “Referring to our calendar the year planner, starting this weekend first year students will start coming in. The Student Services department has organized three busses for students in that period of three days that they will be coming in.” “Two dormitories have been prepared and were maintained by contractors and are ready for housing the first-year students. Games village block seven will be for males and DMK for females”. New students who wish to reside at the halls of residence are advised to pay compulsory fee together with boarding and lodging fees. Orientation for new intakes is scheduled to begin on Tuesday the 31st of January and will end on 3rd February. Mr. Niangu highlighted, registration for new students will commence on Friday 3rd February right after orientation. He urged the Students to come in before the orientation week so that can be able to obtain important information and notices before they begin their studies. “It’s good that students attend the orientation because that is the time they learn and know things about the University”. “We encourage students to pay online, which you will have your registration portal automatically activated and open to do registration online instead of doing it manually”. Meanwhile, a total of 33 student leaders have been selected to assist the Student Service Department in doing airport pick up of students at the airport along with the wardens. These student leaders will be actively engaged in assisting new students during their orientation and the registration week. They will be assigned to each of the halls of residence after the registration week to help the wardens in providing assistance to students when there is need.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which is partnership with the National Department of Health (NDoH), will be observing the World Neglected Tropical Disease Day on 30th January at the Department of Health headquarters in the nation’s capital, with the theme “Act Now. Act to Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases”. This was made known by Manager for Disease Control and Surveillance for National Department of Health, Dr. Lucy John and Technical officer for Neglected Tropical Disease (WHO) Dr. Sarosh Jamil. According to Dr. Lucy, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are common diseases that have been existing within the tropics that have not been given priority and has led to progressive disability of individuals. She made it known that currently there are 20 neglected tropical diseases but for PNG, there are 7 identified NTDs scattered around the country. “In Papua New Guinea we have Lymphatic Filariasis, leprosy, trachoma, hookworms, scabies, dengue and buruli ulcer which we know that is existing in Papua New Guinea”, said Dr. Lucy. WHO, while working closely with the country’s health authorities will implement their NTDs strategic plan to eradicate NTDs by 2030 starting with the five provinces with the highest number of NTDs. Dr. Lucy confirmed that these NTDs are curable and all treatments to these diseases are available; however, effective awareness and intervention programs will be carried out to educate the people on these diseases. “Lots of awareness campaign and educational messages has to be done to get people to educate themselves to find the symptoms of these NTDs on them and come forward to nearest health facilities to be treated.” “We have in place the leprosy plan, Filariasis treatment programs, buruli ulcer programs including the trachoma interventions that has been going on and we try to target them like that using our strategy,” said the Manager for disease control. Dr. Sarosh also outlined the three interventions set in place by WHO in alignment with the NDoH’s National Health Plan to eradicate NTDs in the country. “For the first intervention we are planning to implement integrated approach of combatting multiple NTDs using screening of population to identify, test and treat people suffering with NTDs” “The second intervention we will be conducting intensive education and awareness campaign so people are aware and access rightful health facilities to be treated.” “Our third intervention in place will look at building the capacity of the health work force in identification and diagnosing and treating those diseases”, said Dr. Sarosh. The three intervention methods that is practiced globally will be carried out for the next three to four years in high risks provinces within the country to eliminate NTDs. According to Dr. Sarosh, the role of WHO in combatting NTDs is providing normative guidance, technical support, engaging different partners and to help PNG frame its policies to plan their interventions into eliminating these diseases. The World NTDs Day that will be observed on Monday next week will see more information surrounding NTDs and possible prevention and cure measures provided to the general public. “It’s not an easy road to take, this is our challenge in terms of manpower, in terms of funding, the geographical terrain and inaccessibility, that’s why we are doing it in an integrated manner so when we have a pool of resources it enables us to target provinces with the highest number of NTDs”, said Dr. Lucy. The National Department of Health is in in partnership with the World Health Organization and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to roll out its plans on eradicating NTDs in Papua New Guinea.

The Hoholo NCD Governor’s cup will host the remaining matches this Sunday 22nd January at the Sir. Bill Skate Stadium, Gaugere. The top six teams to battle for the Governor’s cup are Sari Hawks, Koni Texas Rats, Raiders Namona, Capital Mackwas, Northern Rats 2 and H six Knights. Venue Coordinator Alex Kis explained that due to bad weather conditions the tournament is being delayed at the Ipi park Hohola. Mr. Kis added that there are only three matches remaining before they put out the team percentages and which team to be on bye for the final. “Right now, we haven’t done with points percentages. The team with highest percentage will be on standby for the final and then others will go through quarter finals”. The dates for finals will be disclosed after they complete all the games this Sunday. Mr. Kis also added that the finals will either be played at the Sir Bill Skate Stadium or at the Hubert Murray Stadium. There will be a curtain raiser game for the women’s competition between the PCL Vernon and White House Sisters on the day of the finals.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants to make sure that it delivers the best health care and services to the huge population throughout the country. That is the message from the WHO Representative Communications Manager, Wahid Feroz, who outlined the existing scenario the country is facing in terms of how its health services are scattered around the country. “Due to limited road networks and accessibility to rural areas around the country, people diagnosed with different diseases are left to suffer. All we have to do is carry out more effective awareness programs to prevent people contracting these diseases”. In alignment with the National Department of Health, the WHO representative made known that his role is to act as a link direct from the WHO to the people, where a professional relationship will be established. Mr. Feroz, who has been in the country since September last year, will be executing his duty by travelling to different provinces to incorporate groups and establish data inclusive of medical care restraints. “When my team and I start travelling to different provinces, we will start making new relations to build focus groups, surveys so we can get data that is not just important for health experts, but for analysts to keep track of the progress of our programs”, said Mr. Feroz. He outlined that the health strategies and programs that will be carried this year will be targeted to a specific kind of audience, based on their preferences and limitations making it convenient for their understanding. A health statistic that is much credited and originates from an authentic source, will enable more people to take into consideration and practice preventive measures against diseases. He will be working closely with media houses within the country to assist in rolling out these programs. “Our health programs will be carried out through actual oral awareness as well as published on different media platforms, that’s why we will be working very closely with media outlets to assist us disseminate the information” “We also will be going live both on radio and television to host talkback shows so we can get feedbacks as well as opinions from the people in relation to general health and prevention measures in PNG”, said Mr. Feroz. Whilst awaiting final comments from the National Department of Health, all programs are to kick start next month.

More than five patients were tested covid-19 positive last week at the Migende St. Joseph Rural Hospital in Simbu province. In a report from Sister Erickeve Kiae, some were admitted at the hospital while others were advised to get treatment and stay isolated in their homes. Sister Kiae added, after getting treatment the patients are all recovering from home and the hospital is back to stable operation attending to other patients. Moreover, the hospital is privileged to received supplementary supplies of medical kits from NGO’s that contracted to the Provincial Health Authority. “Basically, we receive our supplies monthly and on top of that we receive medical kits every six months”. “The medical kits help us a lot because when there is low stock of drugs, we depend on the supplementary supplies”. Besides that, hospital is operating with a total of 36 staffs and they are working beyond their shift to make sure patients get medications. Meanwhile, the management of the Migende St. Joseph Rural Hospital is now working in partnership with Simbu Provincial Health Authority after they signed the service level agreement in December 2022. Mrs. Kiae stated that the partnership is great step to improving their service at the hospital and they anticipate receiving supports from the Provincial Government in terms of logistics and resources. She highlighted that they have been working together for some years without an agreement which they were not able to access funds from the DSIP.

The Buka General Hospital in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville reported an increase in road accidents with five deaths reported at the hospital so far. The Acting CEO Dr. Tommy Wotsia stated that they have observed this since the festive season with  staff being quite busy with a lot of those emergency cases at the emergency room. “During the early week of January, we had a lot to of work for the staff at the hospital”. Dr. Wotsia also said that the current low stock of medical drugs is not helping, because now it is putting a lot of pressure on staff when dealing with the patients. “Our new supply of drugs comes in monthly, and all this time we are advising all the patients to purchase at their medication at the pharmacy shops”. “Sometimes the hospital use to order drugs from the pharmacy shops using our own budget so that we could treat everyone at the hospital”. Meanwhile, the Buka General Hospital has recorded 15 positive cases of covid-19 in the last two weeks. Dr. Wotsia said that all the 15 cases were recorded at the out patients, which the staff were able to attend immediately to them. He added that they are seeing a lot of patients continue coming in with common flu, which the staff are assuming to be covid-19 related, and what's bad is that the hospital has run out of covid-19 testing equipment and they cannot confirm the patients right away.

Theodist Business Superstore donated K25, 000 to Cheshire Disability Services this morning at Theodist Center, Port Moresby. The cheque was received by the Cheshire Disability Services General Manger Benson Hahambu and Chairlady of Board  Barbra Macgrory witnessed by senior staff of Theodist. Corporate Development Manager for Theodist Ryan Pini made the opening statement saying, the support they are giving is to see children with special needs excel in education at the early stages of their journey. “Today it’s a special day to make this donation, and we are proud to be part of this family who are doing great work in the communities”. Pini added that it is one of their aims and they are always happy to support children with special needs and this gesture goes to show that these children are as important as any other abled bodied children. He further commended the Cheshire Disability Service for the special and unique work they do in trying help the children realize their potentials especially in making sure these children have basic equipment in place. “Providing them a better education will need people who must be creative and innovative and it takes time and effort." Mrs. Macgrory thanked the Theodist Business Superstore for the donation and explained that it is a very important funding that will assists them in terms of setting their budgets. The Cheshire Disability Service was also fortunate to receive a funding of more than K12, 000 from the Hilton Hotel earlier this morning.