Australian aid making an impact on TB scourge

AusAID

THE FIGHT AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province is making progress as a new TB ward, funded by AusAID, also takes shape.

The new 22-bed TB ward at Daru General Hospital is part of a $31 million package of support Australia is providing to help the government of PNG improve health services in one of its poorest provinces.

There will be six isolation rooms to quarantine patients in the infectious stage of TB so they do not pass the disease on to others, with a further 16 bed inpatient ward for TB patients in the convalescent stage.

The design of the ward has been assessed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as complying with international infection control standards.

The ward is one of a range of measures AusAID is supporting to help PNG fight the disease. Since implementing the support, mortality rates for drug-resistant TB in Western Province dramatically reduced from 25% to 5% last year. Detection of the disease rose by 30%.

Dr Geoff Clark, AusAID’s program director for health and HIV in Port Moresby, said treatment for TB can take from 6 to 24 months.

"When you look at the amount of time it takes for people to recover, it’s clear that any approach that is going to work must branch out into the communities where people live," Dr Clark said.

"The specialist TB facilities at Daru are a critical element of AusAID’s broader package of support."

Comments

[Sharlene Kendo]

I would like to thank AusAID for your wonderful funding to this province in my country. As a citizen of this nation I'm ashamed of the health in my country. Our leaders should put extra effort into this problem because the purpose of leadership is for betterment of the people.

We shouldn't be getting assistance from other countries since we are an independent nation.

So again I'm saying thank you to AusAID and other countries who are still supporting Papua New Guinea. Thanks guys.

[Mrs Barbara Short]

Excellent. Great to hear of this new TB isolation ward. Reminds me of the old leprosy isolation hospital on the Gazelle in times past.

Let us hope that these efforts will help in the fight to control the spread of this new strain of TB in PNG.

I wish Tony Flynn all the best in his promotion of these stoves which also should help to stop the spread of TB.

[Tony Flynn]

Improved cook stoves help to minimise TB spread by coughing due to smoke inhalation in confined spaces.

Africa does a lot of work on improving cooking facilities; nothing is happening here.

I believe that I am the only person who has produced portable clay stoves that have very little smoke. I am trying to promote charcoal manufacture for use in charcoal stoves.

I am a small businessman in Wau and this needs a much bigger effort by more influential people.