Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

New evidence of eco-damage from nickel mine

BY ASH PEMBERTON
GREEN LEFT

THE CONTROVERSIAL RAMU NICKEL MINE near Madang in Papua New Guinea has come under fire for new claims of environmental damage.

The mine has been the subject of a long-running battle with locals over plans to pump 100 million tonnes of mine waste into Basamuk Bay over 20 years. The dumping threatens the pristine ecosystem of the area as well as the livelihoods of local people.

Locals who opposed the mine faced harassment from company and government representatives, including a number of violent attacks and threats on those involved in a legal challenge to the mine. People were forced from their homes to make way for mine construction and culturally significant sites were destroyed.

The mine is majority-owned by Chinese company MCC. Australian company Highlands Pacific owns a minority stake.

A Supreme Court appeal against a decision to allow production to go ahead was rejected in December. Highlands Pacific said in a report that the mine “has been commissioned and is now in production and nearing first sales in coming months”, the PNG National said on April 20.

As the mine prepared to come online, locals reported that several ships supplying the Ramu mine processing plant spilled chemicals into Basamuk bay, bleaching the coral reefs, PNG Mine Watch said on April 27. It was unclear whether the spills were accidents or intentional discharges.

MCC admitted to a “minor” spill of sodium hydroxide at its processing plant on April 18, but denied claims by locals that sulphuric acid had spilled from ships.

PNG environment minister Thompson Harokaqueh also recommended the mine stop using its 135 kilometre slurry pipe ― which carries waste from the mine to the sea ― due to its poor construction and closeness to roads, the National said on April 5.

Harokaqueh told parliament the mine owners had failed to develop a monitoring system for the pipeline or erect warning signs after sections of pipe had been pushed onto the road after a landslide.

Highlands Pacific denied reports the pipeline had shut, the National said on April 18.

A controversial meeting between the state, the Madang provincial government, landowner groups and mine owners began on April 23 to finalise an agreement covering “business spinoffs, royalties and infrastructure development projects,” the National said the next day.

The venue was mysteriously changed from Madang to Mt Hagen, almost 200 kilometres away. Media were banned from covering the meeting, The National said on 27 April.

Authorities hopeful about PNG handling TB problem

BY LAUREN DAY AND BRAD RYAN
ABC NEWS

A FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND doctor who has been treating Papua New Guinea tuberculosis sufferers in the Torres Strait Islands says the final patients will be handed over to their own health system in early June.

Agencies including AusAID and the Federal, State and PNG health departments have met in Cairns to discuss the transition of tuberculosis services to PNG.

Dr Graham Simpson says progress is being made to prepare for the transition.

"They've got some very dedicated people over there and they've now got access to a lot of the drugs and so on that they just didn't have before," he said.

"Things are a lot better than we probably anticipated they would get in that length of time.

"It's still going to be an unproven service but they're very keen and we've just got to wish them luck and wait and see."

Dr Simpson says the final patients not be left on their own.

"We plan to continue to have joint meetings - both sides want to have that - not clinics seeing patients but just meeting," he said.

"I hope that'll happen - alternating between meetings in Daru and meetings in Australia, so that we'll keep in touch in that way."

Escalating maternal deathrate afflicts PNG

CATHOLIC ONLINE / IPS

WOMEN DYING IN CHILDBIRTH doubled in Papua New Guinea between 1990 and 2008. During the same period, maternal deaths worldwide decreased by one-third.

This shocking death rate has prompted national plans to accelerate healthcare reform and women's access to medical services. Implementing these much-need changes remains a challenge.

A full 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, the risk increasing in rural areas. In Papua New Guinea, which remains largely rural, gender inequity, poor use of family planning and a decaying state rural health services have contributed to alarming maternal deaths.

According to the United Nations Development Program, PNG’s maternal mortality ratio is 250 deaths per 100,000 live births. An even more sobering statistic in 2006 revealed 733 deaths per 100,000 births, the second highest after Afghanistan in the Asia Pacific region.

Health experts say that lives of expectant mothers can be saved by medical supervision of births combined with antenatal and postnatal care. The World Bank estimates 17% of people here do not have access to a road and two fifths of health facilities lack electricity and basic medical equipment.

The Ministerial Taskforce on Maternal Health noted back in 2009, "The decentralisation of government roles, responsibilities and financing (in the 1980s) has seriously compromised the quality and functionality of health services, including maternal health."

Between 1987 and 2000, rural health staff was slashed by 25%.

Glen Mola, chair of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Papua New Guinea says that, "Women can deliver (by) themselves safely at home with their mothers and sisters in support, as long as nothing goes wrong.

“But if something does go wrong, then it can be mortal for that woman if she is in her house in the village. The (reason) why PNG has such a horribly high (maternal mortality rate) is that 67% of women deliver at home.

"Having a professional midwife or obstetrician present in the house is not going to make any difference to her chances of surviving a labor and delivery complication unless there is backup emergency obstetric care, drugs and facility support," he says.

Health services run by church organisations, which account for 60% of health facilities in Papua New Guinea, have been singled out for praise.

The Church of the Nazarene operates a district hospital in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands Province, and rural health services in the province of Jiwaka.

Medical workers visit 16 rural health clinics every month offering prenatal examinations, child health clinics, family planning and health education while referring complicated pregnancies to the hospital.

Mass tetanus vaccination campaign underway

IRIN

THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA Health Ministry and international aid agencies have launched a mass vaccination of 1.8 million women and girls aged 15-45 against maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).

The tetanus toxoid vaccine is being administered from 2 April to 15 May at public health facilities and schools in all 20 provinces.

While the Health Ministry has carried out supplementary vaccination programs to protect against polio and measles, this is the first large-scale MNT vaccination.

“We have one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the region, if not the world,” said Jaime Maxtone-Graham, Minister for Health. “We need to change that trend.”

Some progress has been made since the government convened a task force in 2009 to tackle maternal deaths, but out of every 100,000 live births, some 250 women are still dying, according to a 2008 inter-agency estimate.

Some 1 percent of maternal deaths are linked to MNT, according to UNICEF.

The agency lists 38 countries worldwide where MNT remains endemic, killing an estimated 100,000 mothers and newborns around the world annually.

Tetanus is lethal but highly preventable with early diagnosis and prevention through vaccination, say health experts, but figures for MNT-related deaths are hard to come by and the disease is often under-reported.

“Data collection has always been a problem because tetanus is mostly present in rural, marginalized communities. Often, the women and newborns die before they reach the health centers and their cases can be recorded,” said Grace Kariwiga, UNICEF’s officer in charge of health and nutrition in PNG.

“If 1% of maternal deaths can be attributed to MNT, then that would be a good inference of the number of women we can save [with this vaccination program],” the World Health Organisation representative in PNG, William Adu-Krow, told IRIN.

According to WHO, tetanus is a disease caused by bacteria commonly found in soil containing manure and its spores are widespread in the environment. Tetanus can grow in wounds if they are not cleaned and treated, or in a newborn’s umbilical cord if it is cut with unsterilized equipment.

Pregnant women and newborns are at risk for tetanus before and after delivery, especially in birthing facilities with poor sanitation.

Nationwide, 53% of women gave birth with a skilled attendant present in 2006, when the government’s most recent national health survey was conducted. Access to healthcare in some provinces is worse than in others.

At the time of the 2000 census almost nine out of 10 people nationwide lived in rural areas but the number of health staff in rural facilities declined by 25% between 1987 and 2000.

Combination drug treatment cuts malaria by 30%

SCIENCE DAILY

MALARIA INFECTIONS AMONG INFANTS can be cut by up to 30% when antimalarial drugs are given intermittently over a 12 month period, a three-year clinical trial in Papua New Guinea has shown.

The trial showed the drug regime was effective against both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria, the first time antimalarial drugs have been shown to prevent infections by both species of malaria.

The treatment regime, called intermittent preventive treatment (IPT), protected the infants against malaria for at least six weeks after the end of treatment, showing that it had an ongoing protective effect and did not hinder the development of natural immunity.

The study was led by Professor Ivo Mueller from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute with Dr Patricia Rarau and Dr Nicolas Senn from the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research.

Professor Mueller said the findings could lead to trials of IPT in other regions, including South-East Asia and South America, where malaria, particularly P.vivax, is a major health problem.

IPT uses sporadic, short courses of combined antimalarial drugs to provide protection against malaria infection. "IPT is a cheap and easy way to decrease the burden of malaria in those most susceptible to clinical illness, such as young infants and pregnant women," Professor Mueller said.

As part of the clinical trial, infants aged three to 15 months were treated with a long-lasting antimalarial drug combination at three, six, nine and 12 months.

Professor Mueller said the most effective drug combination in the trial was the long-lasting antimalarials sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine and amodiaquine (SP-AQ), which act against the two most lethal species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. In the trial, SP-AQ treatment decreased infant infections by 35% for Plasmodium falciparum and 23% for Plasmodium vivax.

"These are quite remarkable figures," Professor Mueller said. "Different treatment strategies are required for different regions, depending on the dynamics of disease. The drug combination that was most effective in PNG was very different to the drugs you would use to treat malaria in Africa and also different to the drugs currently recommended for treating malaria in PNG."

Professor Peter Siba, director of PNGIMR, said a key factor in the effectiveness of the treatment was running it in parallel with existing vaccination and healthcare programs.

"In the trials, IPT was given at the same time as regular vaccinations and check-ups, using existing health care frameworks to deliver the treatment, so we saw a much higher adherence than with continuous treatment regimes.

“IPT is also preferable to long-term, continued use of antimalarial drugs, as it allows some natural immunity to develop while decreasing the number and severity of malaria infections," Professor Siba said.

This study was supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Endemic cholera reflects declining service standards

BY PAUL HORWOODA & ANDREW GREENHILLA
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research

UNTIL RECENTLY CHOLERA HAD NEVER BEEN REPORTED in Papua New Guinea despite the close proximity of cholera-endemic countries and the presence of environmental and social characteristics that are considered risk factors for cholera outbreaks.

The current outbreak began in July 2009 and rapidly spread throughout the coastal regions of the country. Initial characterization studies using variable-number tandem repeat analysis indicate that the outbreak was a recent clonal incursion from South-East Asia.

By mid-2011 the outbreak had resulted in the reporting of more than 15,500 cases of cholera and over 500 deaths: a case fatality ratio (CFR) of approximately 3.2%.

Following an outbreak of cholera, interventions such as the introduction of oral rehydration therapy aim to reduce the CFR to below 1%. This elevated CFR is likely a reflection of the inaccessibility of much of the country, the lack of health care services available in remote regions and the general unpreparedness for an outbreak of this kind.

This premise is supported by the differences in CFRs between the relatively well-serviced National Capital District (0.1%) and more remote regions such as the Western Province (8.8%).

When cholera spreads to a non-endemic area, or a new epidemic emerges within an endemic country, it is often preceded by a natural or human-induced disaster. This was not the case here, with no notable disaster impeding health care delivery or access to safe drinking-water.

It seems that in parts of the country, the combination of an increasing population, reduced access to health care and lack of safe drinking-water has reached a critical point, thereby facilitating the spread of cholera once it was introduced.

The worst affected are people living in settlements where crowding and unsanitary conditions are the norm. However, rural villages have also been affected where service delivery is poor.

The presence of cholera in PNG is a timely reminder of the declining standard of service delivery in much of the country, which is exemplified by the poor epidemiological data that were collected during the outbreak and the lack of ongoing active surveillance for cholera cases.

The concern now is that cholera will persist in the environment and Papua New Guinea will officially become a cholera-endemic country with periodic outbreaks of variable severity.

Factors such as the large, slow moving, saline river systems and the lack of adequate sanitation and hygiene in many communities increase the potential for endemicity.

Vibrio cholerae is highly adapted to the aquatic environment, and lives naturally in riverine and estuarine ecosystems. With the sustained and widespread transmission of cholera for over two years in PNG, it is likely that an environmental reservoir will be, or already has been, established.

Cholera endemicity has broad implications beyond the health risk to its citizens, including the possibility of temporary trade barriers, reduction in tourist numbers and an increased burden on the health care systems.

Malaria & me: a bullet train that didn’t miss

ABC CORRESPONDENTS REPORT

Living in exotic places often means exposure to exotic illnesses. Before setting out for Papua New Guinea LIAM FOX was vaccinated for all kinds of diseases. But there's no vaccination for malaria, only short-term preventative medication. Liam had managed to avoid the disease for three years but sadly his luck finally ran out.

IT WAS 2AM AND I was standing under a steaming hot shower but couldn't stop shaking with cold. Several hours earlier a wave of fatigue had hit me like a bullet train. Not long after that my whole body began to ache.

Shivering under the shower I thought something is really wrong here. Sleep was impossible. When the sun came up I said to my wife 'I think I've got malaria'.

A quick search on the internet confirmed the symptoms: shaking chills, tiredness and muscle aches.

While malaria is common throughout PNG, the risk of contracting the mosquito-borne disease in Port Moresby is thought to be low. Few residents take preventative medication.

The side effects of taking anti-malarials over an extended period of time can range from an upset stomach, to sensitivity to sunlight, to a severe neuropsychiatric reaction.

Some large multi-national companies require their workers to take the drugs and carry out tests to make sure they do.

But most expats are pretty blasé about it, me included, and most locals couldn't afford the drugs even if they wanted them.

Moresby's been home for three years and a few friends have had malaria in that time. But despite many, many mosquito bites I had avoided it, until now.

I hauled my aching body down to the local clinic and the friendly doctor said it looked to be a case of malaria and ordered a blood test. It came back negative but the doctor said that wasn't unusual and could be because I was in between attacks.

The more likely cause of the negative result he said was because the lab technician examining my blood sample wasn't paying close attention.

He diagnosed malaria, prescribed me two kinds of drugs and sent me on my way.

The shaking chills didn't return and the aches soon went away, but the intense fatigue persisted for several days.

Despite the initial sickness I was pretty lucky. I had quick access to medical care and the money to pay for it.

It's a different story for most Papua New Guineans, who live outside the major cities and towns where health care is rudimentary at best, non-existent at worst.

According to the World Health Organisation nearly 10% of all children who died before reaching the age of five in PNG were lost to malaria.

There has been some promising news in the fight against the disease recently.

Last week Australian researchers announced a PNG trial of a new drug cut rates of infant malaria by 30%.

But the disease remains a fact of life, and death here, and will do for some time.

And it could still be factor in my life as well. People who've been infected with can have additional attacks after months, even years without symptoms. That's because the parasites that cause the disease can remain dormant in a person's liver.

So even when I return to Australia, I could bring a little piece of PNG with me.

Buai sellers are my enemy, says Powes Parkop

THE SOLOMON STAR

THE GOVERNOR OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S National Capital District, Powes Parkop, says his primary concern is stopping the sale of buai (betel nut).

Mr Parkop’s comment follows research by the World Health Organisation (reported in PNG Attitude earlier this week) showing the growing prevalence of betel nut chewing in Melanesia and Micronesia is leading to a rise in oral cancer.

Mr Parkop says the product was banned from being sold in public places in Port Moresby from 2009 but people have been evading the law.

“The betel nut vendors are very mobile. It’s hard to contain them because they just carry the betel nut in their bags and they walk around in the street so the enforcers have to be mobile to catch them.

“It’s not been a hundred percent successful but it’s much better now than it was some years ago.”

Powes Parkop he is working on encouraging people to give up chewing betel nut altogether.

Women in Mt Hagen creating a dream of hope

CATHERINE WILSON
THE JAKARTA POST

IN MT HAGEN, A TOWN HIGH UP in the valleys of the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, a group of local women, many of whom are HIV positive, have begun a self-help initiative to achieve dignity and a better standard of living.

Many live in informal settlements on the town’s periphery and confront daily struggles with poverty, drugs, family violence and inter-clan conflict.

Established in 2007, the Mt Hagen Handicraft Group consists of 50 women, of whom 25 have AIDS, all facing social and economic hardship. Handicraft coordinator Barbara Pagasa spoke evocatively of the women’s lives.

“Life is a dream of hope and many think and wish if only an angel from above could rescue them from this life of struggle that is hidden deep inside their hearts,” she said.

“A fear of hunger, sickness and death awaits and creeps quietly into their minds, thinking if I don’t wake up as early as 5am during the first breaking of the day, looking for twigs, empty cartons to cook breakfast, God knows what.

“If I don’t do it, then who else is going to do it?” she asked. “This has been their day to day struggle to meet their basic needs and to have a decent plate of food on the table each day.”

In a nation where women are significantly underrepresented in decision-making roles and suffer from a high maternal mortality rate, AIDS is another cruel burden. According to the United Nations Development Program, “gender-based violence affecting women and girls has reached unprecedented levels making them vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS.”

In 2009, the National Aids Council of Papua New Guinea reported that 34,100 people were living with the disease, approximately 0.9% of the population, with 60% of reported cases located in the highlands.  Women comprise 56% of known cases.

The group’s aim is to empower women through self-generated incomes and a physically and psychologically supportive environment and, thus, to “make a difference to women by improving their ways of living and ability to escape the traps of these crises.”

The first aim is achieved by developing the skills of women in sewing and the designing and making of bilums, versatile and unique string bags that have become cultural icons of PNG.

Every week Julie makes her way to the handicraft group’s offices situated behind a busy bakery in the centre of Mt Hagen. In this sanctuary, away from the grinding noise of trucks on the main road and endless hustle of roadside market stalls, she finds peace in the women’s quiet industry and gentle friendship.
 
Julie has been living with HIV for nine years, ever since she contracted the virus from her husband who had had multiple sexual partners. “My husband died nine years ago and I have two children I am responsible for,” she said.

Buai habit is "highly dangerous" says WHO

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION

A NEW REPORT by the World Health Organisation reveals a shockingly high prevalence of areca (betel) nut (known as buai in Papua New Guinea) and tobacco chewing in the Western Pacific Region and urges governments and other stakeholders to make people aware of the health dangers.

“Although people understand the harms of smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke, they don’t generally appreciate the dangers of tobacco and betel nut chewing,” says Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.

People need to know that chewing tobacco and betel nut are highly dangerous, too, whether taken together or separately.”

The report, Review of Areca (Betel) Nut and Tobacco Use in the Pacific,” says as many as half of the adults in Papua New Guinea, Palau and the Solomon Islands chew betel nut either alone or with tobacco.

It details the origin, history and current trends of betel nut and tobacco use in 10 Western Pacific countries and provides a platform of action for the control of the substances.

The International Agency for Cancer Research classifies betel nut as a Group 1 carcinogen. Smokeless tobacco use is associated with cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas and oesophagus. The nicotine in tobacco also leads to addiction, making it more difficult to give up the betel nut chewing when mixed with tobacco.

“The increasingly common practice of chewing betel nut quid mixed with tobacco greatly increases a person’s risk for bleeding gums, periodontal disease and oral lesions and cancer,” says Dr Shin.

“Indeed, countries of the Western Pacific where this practice is common have high rates of oral cancer. I’m greatly concerned that this problem may worsen due to the increasing prevalence of betel and tobacco chewing among young people,” he adds.

Children’s foundation gets permanent space at last

WWW.SIMBUCHILDRENFOUNDATION.ORG

AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF PERSEVERANCE, helping sick children without a proper office, the Simbu Children Foundation has finally got the nod for a permanent office in the children’s ward at Kundiawa General Hospital.

“This is a milestone for SCF and it is a launching pad to realise the vast array of knowledge and skills,” said SCF president, Jimmy Drekore.

“This sleeping giant will wake up and serve the people of Simbu. SCF will work in partnership with Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Hospital at all levels of professionalism.

“Together in this bond we look forward to serving the people of Simbu to the best of our knowledge.

“We give without hesitation, we hug when you expect a hand, our tears express our hearts - they call us Simbus,” Mr Drekore said.

Acting chief executive officer of the hospital, Mathew Kaluvia, said: “With the establishment of this permanent office here, I am of the opinion that the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Hospital and SCF will together form a partnership that will bring hope, healing and meaning to the lives of our children in this small, rugged and yet unique and beautiful province of ours.”

Story of a little jewel

Where he kept it he stationed guards
Elimbari to the east
Wikauma to the south
Digine to the west
Himself to the north

He allowed Wara Simbu to polish it
To give it its shine
Inspected by the sun
And judged by the moon
To hold his promise to the gods

This little jewel
This precious little jewel
A gift from the gods
To the king of the land
Is my home town - Kundiawa

Crying meri: violence against women in PNG

BY EMMANUEL NAROKOBI
THE MASALAI BLOG

PHOTOGRAPHER VLAD SOKHIN passed through PNG several weeks ago. A friend of mine had put him in touch with me, but unfortunately I was unable to assist with lining up some shots.

Nevertheless he seems to have done very well with his images of PNG. The images are graphic and a PNG friend of mine took objection to his photography, but I had to disagree.

I have a relative who killed his wife over a family dispute; he didn’t mean it but she’s gone and will never come back.

Vlad may have only been in PNG for two weeks but, as he stated in a radio interview, the women were more than willing to be photographed. They just wanted someone to care about what was happening to them.

Yes it’s raw, yes it makes PNG look bad, but it’s one aspect of PNG life that we need to see more of; not only to highlight, but more so we can own the problem.

We need to embrace this.  We need to each own this issue and turn it into some form of hope for our future.

Maybe it is great timing then that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, is right now (18-26 March) conducting her first official fact-finding mission to Papua New Guinea.

Ms Manjoo says her visit “will look at violence against women broadly, studying the main manifestations, causes and consequences of violence against women in the family, in the community, violence that is perpetrated or condoned by the State, and violence against women in the transnational sphere.”

She will meet with government authorities and representatives of civil society in Port Moresby, Goroka, Kundiawa, Minj and Buka. She will also visit shelters and detention centres and meet with individual victims of gender-based violence.

Based on the information obtained during the visit, Ms Manjoo will present a report with final findings and recommendations to a forthcoming session of the Human Rights Council.

I’m not sure how the UN will help in the long run, although it is some good news.

All I know is that this is certainly not a world that I want my daughter to grow up in.

Read the full feature and view the photographs Emmanuel refers to here

Reuben & the plight of the Watut River people

BY ‘WATUT MAHN’
PAPUA NEW GUINEA MINE WATCH

FOR EVERY LARGE SCALE DEVELOPMENT in Papua New Guinea, a number of tribal people’s birthrights or social security become permanently lost. Corporations’ profit while local people’s lives become worse.

Hidden Valley Gold Mine or Morobe Mining Joint Venture (MMJV as it is commonly referred to) is 50:50 jointly owned by Australia’s Newcrest Mining and South Africa’s Harmony Gold.

Located in Bulolo, Morobe Province, mine construction began in mid-2005 causing environmental catastrophe and destruction to the Watut River, which is a life-source for hundreds of local indigenous communities living along the river.

Reuben Mete [pictured], a local landowner from Middle Watut, has been trying to do something about it it. His father was a community leader and a Lutheran church layman.

Reuben and his big brother and two small sisters were nurtured in a family where education was valued and his father urged him to consider a career to benefit the community and not to be selfish or greedy.

Being the lone student from Middle Watut to enter the University of Technology meant a lot to him. So do his community obligations.

Born and raised in remote Kapin village in Middle Watut and receiving his education at the Two Mile settlement in Lae was a painful experience, and this young man easily shed tears remembering it.

For a start there was the painful six hour walk to reach the main Bulolo highway to catch a PMV to Lae to attend school. It required serious personal commitment.

In 2009, Reuben quit his Bachelor of Science studies at the University of Technology out of frustration because his people’s rights were being deprived and ignored by the government and the foreign mining companies.

With the help of community leaders, he set up the Union of Watut River Communities Association Incorporated, an organisation to be the mouthpiece of people living along the Watut River.

Its vision is “to make Watut River Communities free of irresponsible development and government activities”.

Reuben spends much of his time patrolling the Middle and Lower Watut area village by village. He consults and observes the burden of the communities and communicates his ideas to organise the communities to have a strong voice against the Hidden Valley Mine and the government mining and environment regulators.

“I began looking for ways to overcome this burden my people are facing,” he says, “and figured that I needed to organise my people somehow, empower them with factual information, have more discussions through forums and meetings, and use the people’s power to foster recognition for change.”

His achievements include making the MMJV a national issue in PNG, making headlines in the media and running campaigns using the social media.

Allied Gold use bully tactics to cover up toxic spill

BY SIMEON LAVASO & AISOLI TOPU

NEWS ON ALLIED GOLD’s toxic waste overflow at the Simberi gold mine has alerted and created major awareness amongst the New Ireland people and in papua New Guinea generally.

The provincial radio station also aired a live talk show by concerned citizens criticising Allied Gold’s poor safety record at the mine and other breaches and non-compliance to PNG laws and policies.

The company has not come out to defend itself but it is reported to have counter attacked, including obtaining a restraining order through O Brien Lawyers against the Simberi Mining Area Association (SMAA).

At a time the pump was down on 24 January, Allied Gold diverted the toxic waste by discharging it into a pond which overflowed, causing a scare and threat to lives, while the company still allowed production to continue.

This was not reported within 24 hours to the Department of Environment and Conservation as the law requires. For this reason. Aisoli Topu, a concerned landowner, and the SMAA raised the matter for government and the public to know and at the same time exposed the company’s lack of care and due diligence in its Simberi mine operation.

This prompted the New Ireland Provincial government to do a site visit a few days ago. The Department of Environment has yet to send a team to Simberi to verify the issue.

Another landowner Simeon Lavaso is sure that when a government team is sent to Simberi mine it will be too late to see any trace of the toxic waste spill because weeks will have passed.

“The company is running around scot free and enjoying a lack of government scrutiny and enforcement of its laws because there is no one in Simberi to do this,” he said.

“I think this is the failure of government and it is definitely signing a death warrant for the people of Simberi and Tabar if it continues to treat the matter as an issue of peculiarity and not life threatening.”

We want to be counted as one of our many Tabarians to stand for the majority and tell Allied Gold to perform to international standards or to ship out.

We cannot keep quiet on these pressing issues because if we do we are doing injustice to our people who are not well informed on the issue at hand.

Simeon Lavaso and Aisoli Topu are landowners in the affected area

Government postpones ending Daru TB clinics

TORRES NEWS

THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERMENT has once again postponed ending tuberculosis clinics that treat Papua New Guinea nationals on Boigu and Saibai in the Torres Strait.

Queensland Senator Jan McLucas said, following the handover of the clinics to PNG last month, the Department of Health and Ageing held further discussions with Queensland Health and AusAID regarding the need for further clinics.

“As a result of these discussions we anticipate that there will be further clinics over the next few months, although the final details of these are yet to be agreed,” she said.

Australia has told PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill it considers dealing with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis on the joint international border in the Torres Strait a priority.

AusAID announced an $8million project to boost TB facilities in the Western Province capital OF Daru and along coastal villages.

AusAID director general Peter Baxter said the staged handover of PNG TB patients to PNG care would provide the best protection for Torres Strait Islanders.

“A number of measures to improve the detection and treatment of TB in Western Province have already been completed,” Mr Baxter said.

He said AusAID had opened a specialist TB ward in Daru Hospital and begun a new community program to detect and cure the disease in Western Province.

“The temporary TB ward is operational and will ensure PNG patients transferring their treatment from Torres Strait clinics receive their specialist care and a cure close to home,” Mr Baxter said.

“AusAID has also purchased a year’s supply of TB drugs to manage multi-drug resistant TB so that patients handed over to Western Province from Torres Strait clinics can complete their treatment.”

Educating the deaf in Papua New Guinea

BY STEVEN WINDUO
EDUCATION NEWS PNG

WE HEAR LITTLE ABOUT the world of deaf and hard and hearing in Papua New Guinea.

In recent times I was contacted by an old friend and colleague, Steven Wawaf Labuan. I was thrilled with the contact after so many years.

Wawaf, as I had known him, was teaching linguistics as a tutor at the University of Papua New Guinea before he returned to the Morobe province.

The first thought I had was that Wawaf had completed a book of poems chronicling a bohemian life outside the corridors of high learning in the great grassland of Markham Valley.

That was possible, remembering Wawaf as that radical poet willing to recite nationalistic poems along side those street preachers at the crowded Boroko commercial center.

But not so, I would soon discover several emails later. Steven Wawaf Labuan is a different kind of poet altogether. He is someone who is more interested in working with teaching language to the deaf and hard of hearing children in the Markham Valley.

Equipped with his linguistic training at UPNG, Wawaf found himself involved with this important mission to teach the special group of children in Papua New Guinea.

He took the time to educate me on how he and others like Sylvia Yawingu of the Momase Regional Office for the Callan Services are doing to assist in the language development of this special group of Papua New Guineans.

Special Education agencies like the Callan Services and the National Department of Education Special Education Division have been working very hard to identify children with disabilities and aid their improvement before sending them off to mainstream schools where they join other normal children learn the same curriculum in the same class.

Children who are deaf are categorized in two groups: (1) those who were born totally without the hearing sense—that is those who are profoundly deaf, and (2) those who lost hearing sense some time after birth.

For those children who are born without hearing, normal child development processes for them are delayed for more than a thousand hours or so, so that what a normal child processes in an instant moment, a child without hearing processes several times later through exposure, or not at all, without exposure.

In developed countries such disabilities are quickly identified and treated right after birth compared to developing countries. In PNG identification and treatment are slow.

Dirty water killing 60 people a week, says Oxfam

PACNEWS (PACIFIC ISLAND NEWS SERVICE)

DIRTY DRINKING WATER in Papua New Guinea is killing 60 people every week, data from Oxfam New Zealand shows.

Oxfam plans to build taps and send water and sanitation experts to PNG's highlands to tackle the problem.

Oxfam NZ chief Barry Coates told Radio Australia the young and the old are the most common victims of dirty drinking water.

The incidence of diarrhoea really affects children under five-years-old, he said.

And it's one of the reasons why there are very high death rates of children under five years old in PNG.

Coates said long term planning is needed to reduce such deaths.

“Often it is a lack of funding, and particularly I think a lack of commitment for ongoing donors and governments to work in ways that are going to do things systematically over the long term, rather than be one off changes,” he said.

“What we have seen is a lot of initiatives that have started over the years in the Pacific but often not carried through to provide good water and sanitation.”

200,000 PNGns are blind or vision impaired

IRIN

HEALTH WORKERS SAY serious eye problems are crippling thousands across Papua New Guinea.

"The need for treatment must be prioritised in this country as the number of people suffering from blindness or low vision is high and the problem is growing," says PNG’s chief ophthalmologist Simon Melenges.

An estimated 200,000 people have poor eyesight or no vision; many go without treatment due to inadequate eyecare facilities, specialists, surgical supplies and drugs.

PNG estimates it will cost nearly $8 million to provide eyecare to those in need in 2012, with the cost expected to double by 2016 - this in a country where almost nine out of 10 people live in rural areas and are dependent on erratic farming income.

Care Australia recently studied a community in the Obura-Wonenara District of the Eastern Highlands Province. Of 262 families, more than 60% earned less than $100 the previous month through coffee sales, comprising the bulk of their income.

"We have a very sad situation here. In most of the cases, it's just the need for a pair of glasses. People in this country live with blindness not only because they can't access [medical care] but because they can't afford it," said Eileen Tagum of PNG Eye Care.

One-third of surveyed patients over the age of 50 in a study published in 2006 were visually impaired and 9% were completely blind.

This translated into an estimated 146,000 visually impaired people, of whom 44,000 were blind.

A pair of prescription eyeglasses can cost from $150 to $250. There is no health insurance or sliding-scale payment plans for the country's poor. Cataract surgery costs up to $40 plus the cost of the hospital stay.

Uncorrected refractive error and cataracts are the leading causes of vision impairment, followed by corneal infections, pterygium (growth of scar tissue and blood), uveitis (eye inflammation), trauma and eye disease complications from diabetes, said Mr Melenges.

There are seven functioning eye clinics partially funded by the Australian government; almost all lacking sufficient stocks of drugs to treat eye infections, surgery supplies or prescription glasses.

The country needs 60 eye specialists to treat the seven million population, but there are only 18 ophthalmologists practising.

"The government needs to do more for eye-care services in the country," said Mr Melenges.

Scientists seek causes of dead fish in river system

BY JOHNNY BLADES
Radio New Zealand International

SCIENTISTS HAVE DESCENDED ON Papua New Guinea’s Morobe province to investigate a buildup of dead marine life in local riverways.

The people of Labu last week set up a road block at the Markham bridge near the confluence of the Markham River and the Watut River where they have been protesting about losing their prime source of food and livelihood.

The Labu community has blamed the Hidden Valley Gold Mine operations of the Morobe Mining Joint Venture for the dead fish.

Labu people last week presented dead fish and a petition to Morobe’s Governor demanding an investigation into the issue.

Radio New Zealand International correspondent Oseah Philemon, himself a Labu local, says the community feels very strongly that the build-up of dead marine life is the result of chemicals discharged into the riverways by the mine.

“That was the allegation they made and led to them blocking the Markham Bridge and preventing vehicles either going up to the mine or coming down from passing the Markham Bridge,” he said.

“They also demanded ten million kina compensation, they demanded resettlement, they demanded fresh water, food supplies and whole lot of other things because of that.”

The Morobe Governor, Luther Wenge, says it is premature to blame the mine, especially as the Watut, which the mine discharges into, is one of many tributaries feeding the Markham.

He says he has made pleas to the Labu people for understanding and patience while the issue is investigated.

“And as I say, we don’t know exactly what’s caused that,” Mr Wenge said. “What we have done is to talk to the University of Technology to ask them if they can assist with scientists who can investigate this and tell us what the cause is, what caused the deaths of those river animals.

“So we’ve contacted scientists there and secondly, we’ve engaged the Department of Environment and Conservation, they’ve sent some scientists. We have to make sure that scientists investigate this thoroughly.”

In a press statement, MMJV - a joint venture between Australian company Newcrest and Harmony Gold of South Africa - claims there’s nothing to indicate the mine’s involvement.

The statement said: “The quality of the water discharged from the Hidden Valley mine operations is monitored on a daily basis and is reported to the Department of Environment and Conservation weekly and monthly.

“There are no abnormalities in the Hidden valley water quality data as it is well within compliance parameters. The greatest impact on the river system in the area at the moment is the Kumalu mudslide where cubic kilometres of sediment have entered the river system due to the heavy rain.”

MMJV has pledged support for efforts to identify the cause, and has provided data on its discharge quality.

However Oseah Philemon says the investigating team may need to rely on more independent data if they are to appease local concerns.

“Just putting my other hat on as a villager from Labu, I said to them Labu people will not believe anything that comes from the mine, so you should actually do independent tests,” he said.

“If it means sending the tests to Australia for independent verification and independent tests, then perhaps you should do that, to reassure the people that everything is okay. Right now, as far as they’re concerned, the mine is responsible.”

Carbon dioxide breaking down marine ecosystems

BY JANET RALOFF
SCIENCE NEWS (EXTRACTS)

IF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS don’t begin to decline soon, the complex fabric of marine ecosystems will begin fraying — and eventually unravel completely, two new studies conclude.

Jason Hall-Spencer of the University of Plymouth, England, and his colleagues have been collecting data from marine sites off Italy, Baja California and Papua New Guinea, where high concentrations of carbon dioxide percolate out of the seabed from volcanic activity below.

Directly above these CO2 seeps, pH plummets to at least 7.8, a value that is expected to occur widely by 2100 and which is substantially lower than the normal level for the area, 8.1. These sites offer a preview of what may happen to seafloor ecosystems as CO2 levels continue to rise, causing ocean water pH to drop.

Compared with nearby normal-pH sites, species richness in low-pH zones was diminished by 30%, Hall-Spencer reported. “Coral and some algae are gone. And the sea urchins are gone,” he said. Fish may be present, but unlike in areas with a normal pH, they won’t deposit their eggs there.  

In Papua New Guinea, Langdon found evidence that the same thing appears to be happening in the wild at CO2 seeps with comparable pH values.

Doctor fears closing TB clinics for PNG patients

BY KIRSTY NANCARROW
ABC NEWS

A QUEENSLAND DOCTOR says Papua New Guinea's health system is not ready to take over treatment of its own tuberculosis patients.

The federal government decided mid-last year to shift funding for the treatment of PNG nationals from the Torres Strait Islands to the Western Province.

It led to a transition process of joint clinics.

Cairns-based respiratory physician, Dr Graham Simpson, ran the final scheduled clinics for PNG tuberculosis patients on the Torres Strait Islands of Boigu and Saibai last week.

He says while there has been good progress in handing over treatment plans to PNG doctors, the lack of laboratory services and difficulties with access to patients in remote villages means there is a long way to go.

Dr Simpson says tuberculosis patients from PNG are likely to continue coming to the Torres Strait Islands for treatment beyond this week's clinics.

He says another few years is needed to transfer treatment services to PNG health authorities and winding up the clinics this week could lead to serious health problems.

"I'm worried that both the existing patients and new patients will find it very difficult to access certain services for the geographical reasons," he said.

"There may be difficulties with drug supplies and getting drug supplies out to the remote villages, that we'll lose touch with some of these patients, that the treatment may be incomplete, that that will lead to further drug resistance and that will then spread into Australia."

Dr Simpson says agencies are due to meet next month to discuss progress and plan for the future.

"We don't know what will happen now - whether we'll just lose touch with these patients completely," he said.

"We don't know what's going to happen as new patients will present to the outer island clinics, or we won't be there to see them obviously.

"Patients are still going to turn up because they have very little choice."

Dr Simpson says he is hoping federal health minister's support of a private member's motion last week will translate into funding to extend the Torres Strait clinics.

A federal health department spokeswoman says it is continuing to build treatment capacity in PNG for tuberculosis and has not ruled out funding more clinics in the Torres Strait.

The department says no detailed plans have been made for future hand over clinics but says funding is available.

Yaws: new treatment for re-emergent disease

BY DONALD G. MCNEIL JR.
NEW YORK TIMES

YAWS, A DISEASE THAT PENICILLIN NEARLY ERADICATED 40 years ago, has been re-emerging in rural Papua New Guinea, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands — but a new study has shown that a modern drug is as effective against the disease as penicillin was.

Yaws is a close relative of syphilis — both are caused by a spirochete bacterium, though syphilis is usually transmitted by sex and starts as a genital sore, while yaws is passed by skin contact with its usually painless skin sores. It is commonly passed between children sharing beds.

Left untreated, the bacteria can spread to the bones and cartilage, often causing swelling, pain and facial disfiguration.

In the 1950s, huge campaigns relying on penicillin injections were run by the colonial powers, and the incidence of the disease was driven down by 95 percent. (Scholars now believe unsterilized needles used then may have spread hepatitis C and possibly AIDS.)

A study of 250 children on Lihir Island in PNG, published last month in The Lancet, showed that one pill of azithromycin — sold in the United States as Zithromax — was just as good as a penicillin shot at curing yaws.

A Lancet editorial called it the most important yaws discovery in 50 years, and “could facilitate the elimination of this ancient scourge.” But the article also noted that azithromycin-resistant forms of syphilis have emerged, which could presage a similar problem in yaws.

Paradise at risk: The politics of submarine tailings

BY ALEX HARRIS*
ISLANDS BUSINESS

THE BISMARCK SEA, off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, is an expanse of water described by marine biologists as having the highest diversity of corals, fish, crustaceans, molluscs and marine plant species in the world.

The research project, A Natural History of Madang Lagoon, 1995, which used baited traps set throughout the Madang Lagoon, on the slope of the outer barrier reef and on the floor of Astrolabe Bay to a depth of 500 metres, found “an amphipod fauna in excess of 180 species—an unprecedented diversity of marine invertebrates.”

It is an extraordinary marine paradise wrought by undersea tectonic activity, high volume flows of terrestrial detritus from several rivers, strong undersea currents and upwelling of deeper waters to surface, ensuring a unique and richly fertile marine environment.

It is a paradise at risk. The giant Ramu nickel-cobalt mine—a joint venture between Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) and ASX-listed Highlands Pacific—is set to commence production and dispose of all mine and refinery wastes through a pipe to a depth of 150 metres in Astrolabe Bay, in a process known as submarine tailings disposal (STD), or deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP).

“The value of the marine environment here cannot be underestimated,” says Dr Amanda Reichelt-Brushett, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Chemistry and Marine Pollution, School of Environmental Science and Management at Southern Cross University, Lismore. 

An expert witness for the plaintiffs in a series of court cases brought by landowners of the Rai Coast against the joint-venture’s management company, Ramu NiCo, to injunct the use of STD, Reichelt-Brushett says, “The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is a multi-billion-dollar industry and it is enduring.

“There is an enormous management authority for its use and protection. But PNG’s reefs are so much more incredible than the Barrier Reef. They simply don’t know the value of what they’ve got here.”

The Rai Coast landowners know. Represented by local constitutional lawyer, Tiffany Twivey, they fought an emotional and valiant legal battle over two years, to stop the mine from using their sea as its waste dump. 

Trial Judge, Justice Cannings, made findings of fact that grievous environmental harm would result. However, the economic cost to the company if prohibited from using STD at this late stage would be prohibitive, he surmised, and a permanent injunction was not granted.

The plaintiffs appealed. The respondents, Ramu NiCo, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, and Dr Wari Iamo (in his capacity as the Director of the Environment), opposed the appeal and cross-appealed the Trial Judge’s findings that the appellants had established causes of action in private and public nuisance, and that the operation of STD is contrary to National Goal No. 4 (Natural Resources and Environment) of the Constitution of PNG.

In its 22 December 2011 judgement, the Supreme Court of PNG rejected the plaintiffs appeal and found in favour of the respondents. Justices Davani (dissenting), Sawong and Hartshorn (who was until his 2006 appointment to the bench, a partner with Blake Dawson (Port Moresby), law firm for Highlands Pacific) allowed the cross appeal, quashed the declaratory orders of the National Court and ordered landowners to pay cross appellants costs in all courts. Game over. Let STD begin.

One of the concerns held for the use of STD by the World Bank in its 2003 extractive industries review, Striking a Better Balance, Volume 1, was that submarine tailings disposal presented an inherent economic risk to fisheries for real or even perceived contamination, risks to human health and endangered marine life, such as whales, dolphins, and marine turtles that traverse the Pacific.

The Bismarck Sea is the breeding ground of Pacific tuna. It holds large populations of snapper, and is experiencing a surge in commercial fishing.

In its own review of the Ramu Environmental Plan 1999 (EP), the National Fisheries Authority of PNG determined the project to be “unsustainable socially, economically and environmentally and cannot be allowed to proceed.” But it will proceed.

Disease & moral duty demand Australia helps TB fight

BY BRUCE FLEGG MP *
Courier Mail (Brisbane)

THERE IS A TUBERCULOSIS EPIDEMIC in Papua New Guinea that has been fuelled by its high number of HIV cases but has now spread predominantly to non-HIV patients.

Two TB clinics on the border islands that have protected north Queenslanders are to be closed and $1.1 million given to PNG to deal with its epidemic.

PNG has seven million people and produces only 35 medical graduates a year with no assurance that even they will stay to work in the country. Health outcomes are of Third World standard.

The PNG health system must deal with maternal mortality rates of 733 mothers per 100,000. Infant mortality is 5.7 per cent of all babies.

There is an epidemic of heterosexually transmitted HIV-AIDS, with up to 3 per cent of the sexually active population infected.

Up to half of Third-World TB patients are diabetic, a disease prevalent in Australian indigenous populations. A standard course of treatment for tuberculosis costs about $1,000.

However, increasingly we are no longer dealing with a straightforward disease.

Cases of Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB), which describes strains resistant to at least the two main first-line TB drugs, are increasing. MDR TB costs $45,000 a patient to treat.

Disturbingly, there is now the emergence of Extensive Drug-Resistant TB (XDR TB) strains - resistant to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs and thus virtually impossible to treat. The cost of treatment in this category is about $100,000 a patient, and this often results in containment only, not a cure.

A quarter of all the multi-resistant TB cases in Australia now emanate from Torres Strait and medical authorities are warning that without significant action to stop the penetration of infected cases in Torres Strait and Cape York, TB is likely to become endemic in local populations.

In a paper entitled Protecting Australia's Health Security, Professor Ian Wronski, of the James Cook University Medical School, warns that some previously rare tropical diseases are re-establishing themselves in Australia, of which multi-resistant TB is one.

Media attention and political concern about this issue resulted in a partial backdown, whereby the Torres Strait TB clinics slated for closure on Boigu Island and Saibai Island will be allowed to complete the treatment of existing patients.

This is a small win for the protection of Queenslanders living in the far north and the Torres Strait. However, in the medium term this will not protect local residents.

Torres Strait Islanders have close links, in many cases family links, to far northern communities such as Bamaga. Travel between PNG, Torres Strait islands and far northern communities is frequent and legal.

The nearest major centre within PNG at which it would be feasible to provide tuberculosis treatment is Daru. Daru's hospital has been described as being on the verge of collapse, without drugs, doctors or even security.

If we are to protect north Queenslanders from the incursion of TB, there appears little option but to offer treatment to those cases that visit legally on our shores.

Australia, not PNG, has the First World research and infrastructure capacity required to combat this deadly disease in the region with any degree of efficacy. And much of our research is already aligned with addressing the higher burden of infectious disease in the tropics.

In all fairness, the Queensland Government has a valid point that the cost of this sort of human biosecurity at Australia's northern border should not fall overwhelmingly to state taxpayers.

There are two other considerations that I believe are important.

Firstly, Australian self-interest dictates that if TB continues to extend further south, the cost burden of this disease becoming endemic in northern communities will far exceed the cost of maintaining the clinics.

Secondly, and importantly, Australia should be seeking to be a compassionate country that does not refuse medical care to our neighbours (particularly when they are legal visitors to our shores) when their families or their children have life-threatening disease.

The Australian Government can't flick sole responsibility for the management of TB to the PNG Government. To do so is irresponsible and dangerous.

Resistant TB management is way beyond the capacity of the PNG health system.

* Bruce Flegg is Liberal National Party MP for Moggill in Queensland and a medical practitioner of 30 years

Improvisation is the way at Karkar island hospital

BY CHRISTIANE OELRICH

TWO DOCTORS WORKING ON REMOTE KARKAR ISLAND off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea are used to operating with the bare minimum of equipment - to the extent of using the lights in their mobile phones to inspect patients' injuries.

Christof and Tanja Ihle, 38 and 37 respectively, left their comfortable lives in Germany in 2008 to work for a Lutheran mission on the island. The Gaubin Clinic, which has 180 beds, treats 2,000 inpatients and as many as 30,000 outpatients a year.

'Not much that can be done,' Ihle murmurs in German as he inspects a ruptured cornea resulting from a jungle accident by the light of his phone. 'Try to pray,' he tells the patient in the local lingua franca, Tok Pisin.

The head of the Gaubin Clinic believes it helps if the patients feel they can do something to help themselves. The haus sik as it is known locally, has 180 beds and is run by the couple with the help of another doctor from Madagascar and a young local doctor.

PNG has one doctor per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas rates of between 200 and 400 are common in the developed world. The government appears little interested in investing in the health sector, leaving churches to run most rural clinics.

'Sometimes the rubber gloves run out, and then I postpone the operations that are not strictly necessary,' Ihle says. Medicines are often in short supply.

This stands in sharp contrast to government plans to build a 300-bed luxury hospital that would have cost K500 million, or more than the entire health budget of this country of seven million inhabitants.

Those plans have been put on ice since Sir Michael Somare, who served repeated terms as prime minister, left office last year.

Somare's own health problems have cost the impoverished country dear. He put in a bill of K2.5 million for family visits while he was in hospital in Singapore.

'It's an insult to our people that the state should have to pay for this,' member of parliament Sir Mekere Morauta stormed. 'Our health system is in ruins, and people are dying for lack of medicines.'

Meanwhile the Ihles get by with donations from Germany, and they occasionally also receive gifts in kind.

The hospital has a beautiful view out over the sea, and there is scarcely any traffic. Birdsong wakes patients in the mornings, and thunder can be heard from a volcano in the distance.

The morning round starts with a young man with a bruised face and inflamed eye, incurred during a fight after a drinking bout in his village. 'You will have to pay a K50 fine for fighting,' Christof Ihle tells him.

Patients normally have to pay a fee of K10. It is made clear to them that if they do not pay, the clinic will be forced to close.

Ihle says he has learned to do without all the high-tech gadgetry of a European hospital and to improvise as he goes along.

'Sometimes I have to look up how to carry out complicated operations with limited means,' Ihle says, citing examples such as drilling a hole in the skull or providing a new-born with an anus - all of this without a trained anaesthetist.

Médecins Sans Frontières in Papua New Guinea

SOCIAL VIOLENCE IS RIFE in Papua New Guinea and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF - Doctors Without Borders), which has worked here since 2009, provides medical and psychosocial care to survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Contributing factors to the violence are manifold and include poverty, urbanisation and unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, and limited government capacity to provide adequate care.

Lae is PNG’s second largest city, and MSF runs a Family Support Centre at Angau Memorial General Hospital. Family Support Centres offer a safe space to people escaping domestic or social violence.

Patients receive medical care, but also social and psychological support. MSF staff at the centre offer comprehensive, free, medical and psychosocial care to around 200 new patients a month.

In the rural town of Tari, in the southern highlands, MSF teams provide emergency surgery at Tari hospital and work in a Family Support Centre. In 2010, staff carried out more than 13,000 general consultations and more than 5,400 mental health consultations in Tari and Lae general hospitals.

The Medical and Emotional Needs of Survivors of Family and Sexual Violence in Papua New Guinea was published in December 2010 and reports on MSF’s experience in the provision of medical and psychosocial care in the country.

MSF makes a number of concrete recommendations for action by national authorities, civil society and international donors, particularly regarding the establishment and operation of Family Support Centres. 

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières

Logs don’t lie: agro-corporations pillaging PNG

BY HANNAH BROOKS

PAPUA NEW GUINEA is experiencing what may be the most brazenly illegal land grab since its colonial days.

Foreign corporations—specifically, logging companies—are allegedly falsifying signatures, paying off police and lying to the government about their intentions to cut down every tree in the country.

Almost all of PNG is held under customary title, meaning that the land is owned by indigenous people and is administered in accordance with their local custom.

The Somare government introduced a system of Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs) designed to economically empower communities by allowing them to lease portions of their land to the government, which in turn is free to sublease it to agro-forestry companies.

Theoretically, with appropriate discretion and sensitivity, the situation should be win-win for everyone.

Instead, it became a convenient way for the logging industry to bypass PNG’s strict environmental laws and destroy the forests that 80% of the peopl rely on for food, shelter, and income.

“What it’s turned into,” says Greenpeace forest campaign team leader, Paul Winn, “is a vast rort”.

The recent situation around Pomio is an example of how the rort works. Using SABLs, more than 109,000 acres of land have been leased to a company called Gilford that claims to be building an oil-palm plantation.

Gilford is owned by the Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau. While some villagers support the company’s presence, hoping it will bring much-needed money and infrastructure to the area, others claim that the land has been leased without their consent.

Winn corroborated this claim, saying that many of the signatures on the lease belong to children, dead people, and villagers who never existed.

People in Pomio opposed to the project have been using tactics like roadblocks and protests to express their frustrations and have been accused of assaulting plantation workers.

In late October, a squad of policemen flew into the village. According to Greenpeace, the cops were visibly drunk, whipping passersby with fan belts and tree branches while locking others in shipping containers.

Pomio assistant police commissioner Anton Billy confirmed that Rimbunan Hijau paid for the police flights and expenses, which, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he acknowledged was standard practice in the region.

ABC correspondent Liam Fox, who is familiar with the situation, said that, while payments by corporations to police is common, “it raises all kinds of issues. How can police be objective and unbiased when they’re being paid by a logging company?”

Fears rabies will arrive from Indonesian islands

HEALTH EXPERTS HAVE WARNED that Papua New Guinea and Australia are increasingly at risk of rabies, as more Indonesian islands fall to the disease.

Rabies is spreading between islands in the Indonesian archipelago, currently reaching 24 of the country's 33 provinces.

There are fears the disease could spread to PNG and cross the Torres Strait to Australia.

Veterinary expert Helen Scott Orr, who is working with the Indonesian government to eradicate rabies from Bali, told Radio Australia it is difficult to contain the disease.

"Its spread by the movement of infected animals which are most likely to be dogs and many boats obviously, the whole traffic around Indonesia is by boat, and people take their dogs with them," Dr Scott Orr said.

"And there's a long incubation period with rabies so the dog can appear to be OK, and then in the last two weeks of its life it shows disease."

Source: Australia Network News

Mine tailings a Christmas present for Raikos people

THE LITTLE GREEN PALAI 

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME OF GIVING AND RECEIVING. And this Christmas the people of Madang’s Raikos received their gift from the supreme court of Papua New Guinea that will last their and their children’s lifetime.

After four years of battle this supreme court decision of 22 December ruled in favour of Chinese Mining company MCC dumping toxic mine tailings into the sea.

“This ruling makes a very sad Christmas story for us,” says Terry Kunning, one of the plaintiffs in this historic DSTP [deep sea tailings placement] case.

“We fought to save some of the last remaining pristine waters in PNG and this is what they give us.”

Friday’s decision was not about faith, Christianity, morality, people, environment or science.

In Raikos’ Basamuk Bay, a heavenly paradise is set to be reduced to a dumping ground of mine wastes because Justices Sawong and Harthson found the people had not been able to prove public or private nuisance.

The irony is that China among other industrialised countries has banned marine dumping of toxic tailings but pushes PNG to bow so low and allow such practices in its pristine waters.

This decision not only favours MCC but also Australia’s Marengo mine which has been keenly watching this battle behind the scenes.

In this court ruling, female Justice Cathy Davani stood with the people of PNG in her 33 page decision supporting the appeal. However, her two male colleagues in five and half pages between them decided otherwise.

This case attracted more than a thousand plaintiffs and witnesses, and some of the world’s top scientists.

Tomorrow night in Raikos, followers of the Lutheran Church will light candles to mark the birth of Jesus. The Jesus message to them is hope.

And as Mr Kunning puts it, “with heavy hearts and teary eyes it is our hope that some leaders will someday see the full quality of life that their environments offer and not be blinded by the dollar signs. It is our hope that our leaders will stand up for their people one day.”

Growing opposition to experimental seabed mining

THE CAMPAIGN BY PACIFIC CIVIL SOCIETY against experimental seabed mining in the Pacific has been boosted by growing international support.

A public petition launched on 1 December has received signatures from as far as Nigeria and Guyana, as well as from diverse groups including trade unions in Canada, indigenous groups in Asia, Hawaii and the Pacific, churches in Australia and the Pacific and feminists from across the world.

Dave Bleakney a National Representative of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers which has around 54,000 members has signed in support of the campaign.

“The oceans are not a playground for corporate interests,” he said. “Corporations have already proven they are unable to be custodians of a sustainable world that will benefit future generations.

“The seas should in the hands of those that know how to co-exist with it in a good way, not a bunch of fly by night shysters looking to destroy the Pacific’s ocean for a profit.”

Pacific islanders have a long history of fighting against activities that harm the Pacific Ocean. The region has been instrumental in ending nuclear testing in French Polynesia, banning driftnet fishing, and stopping dumping of toxic waste into the oceans under the London Dumping Convention.

Experimental seabed mining represents a new and untested trend in ocean exploitation which the region and the global community must unite to resist.

The launch of the public petition coincided also with new scientific evidence about the serious environmental and social impacts of experimental seabed mining.

The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights in Papua New Guinea and Mining Watch Canada and have released a new report called Out of Our Depth. It details serious environmental and social impacts expected as a result of unprecedented mining of the ocean floor in PNG.

Helen Rosenbaum, author of the report, says, “Nautilus has prepared a deeply flawed Environmental Impact Statement. For example, the company has insufficiently tested the toxicity of its process on vent species, and has not sufficiently considered toxic effects on organisms in the marine food chain.”

Catherine Coumans of Mining Watch Canada, an editor of the report, notes, “Once again a Canadian company is set to inflict unusual environmental and social harm in PNG in a way that would not be permitted in Canada.

“Canadian mining company Placer Dome dumped mine waste into the sea for many years and Barrick Gold is currently using a major river system as a mine waste dump. It is tragic that Canadian mining companies are profiting from weak governance in Papua New Guinea.”

Source: PNG Mine Watch

Research uncovers horror penile modification

RESEARCH ON CIRCUMCISION as a means of prevention of HIV transmission has brought to light the number of men in Papua New Guinea undergoing unsafe penile modification, often with disastrous consequences.

Professor John McBride of James Cook University was one of a number of researchers presenting their work to the PNG government and non-governmental organisations in a recent two-day policy forum in Port Moresby.

He says most men are amenable to being circumcised, with almost 60% having had either full or partial circumcision, known in PNG as the straight cut.

Prof McBride says all the research groups were concerned about the potential adverse effects of that informal type of circumcision and other forms of penile cutting.

“One of the recommendations to come out of the policy forum was to look at how we can reduce the harm that’s associated with informal circumcision and other circumcision practices such as injecting oils and other substances into the shaft of the penis as well as inserting foreign objects under the skin of the penis,” said Prof McBride.”

Source: Radio New Zealand International

Oz red tape impairing medical relationships

BY TREVOR DUKE

THE SUNDAY AGE'S RECENT COVERAGE of the medical maze foreign doctors face in gaining registration describes one of the consequences: the doctor shortage in Australia. There is another consequence, even more neglected.

While Australia now has among the highest levels of protection from incompetence or malpractice by overseas trained doctors, those same safeguards have seriously undermined our ability to support the training of doctors from the Pacific and poor countries in Asia.

Helping train young doctors from developing countries and then assisting them to return home to provide care and leadership is one of the most valuable ways that Australia can help tackle poor health and poverty in countries where death rates are 10-15 times higher than here.

For decades, many doctors from Papua New Guinea and Pacific island countries came to Australia as part of their postgraduate training and forged long-lasting links with Australian hospitals and colleagues.

In many cases, these links grew as the doctors rose through the ranks of their local hospital, health department or university.

These networks between doctors in Australia and the Pacific and Asia have had important effects decades later, including a better understanding of many shared health issues, from human resources to tuberculosis and HIV.

Professor Nakapi Tefuarani is a paediatrician at Port Moresby General Hospital. He came to Sydney for two years in the 1990s to learn cardiology at the end of his paediatric training with the University of PNG.

Nakapi later completed a PhD with the University of Queensland while working as the only trained children's heart doctor in PNG. For the past 18 years Nakapi has been responsible for organising heart surgery for children in PNG, building on links he made in Australia.

This surgery has saved the lives of more than 700 children who would otherwise have died.

There are more than 1,000 babies born with heart disease in PNG each year, a huge workload. Hundreds of children also develop treatable forms of cancer each year, but there is no paediatrician trained in cancer treatment.

Nakapi has been trying to organise for two junior paediatricians to receive training in cardiology and cancer in Australia, but the new legislative requirements have made this almost impossible.

The complex bureaucracy, high costs and personal stress are barriers to low-paid doctors from the Asia-Pacific….

The connection between Australia and poor countries in the Pacific and Asia, developed after World War II, is fraying, breaking important civil society ties and fuelling health inequity.

At the same time, colleges of nursing and medical training in developing countries in the region are poorly supported and not meeting their own workforce needs. So the critical shortage of health workers continues.

There are solutions. For short-term training, as part of a link to recognised postgraduate courses in poorer countries in the region, the process needs to be streamlined, less bureaucratic and less expensive.

Doctors from the Pacific and low economy Asian countries could come to Australia for short-term training, in supervised positions, and be no greater - and in many cases less - risk to Australian patients than junior Australian trainees.

Second, more support is needed for health training institutions in developing countries in the region to build sustainable workforces.

There is inertia because the problem is under-recognised and its consequences undervalued. Pacific and poor Asian countries have little political influence here.

Professor Trevor Duke is director of the Centre for International Child Health and deputy director of intensive care at the Royal Children's Hospital.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-red-tape-is-hurting-those-who-need-us-the-most-20111210-1oore.html#ixzz1gAl86j5Q

Maxtone-Graham says ‘I will stamp out smoking’

BY LIAM FOX

MOST PEOPLE ARE AWARE of the health effects of smoking tobacco but in Papua New Guinea they are largely ignored.

Now the government has announced a major crackdown on selling and smoking cigarettes. Along with chewing betel nut, smoking is a pastime in PNG.

One survey found more than 70% of households contained at least one smoker. Another found more than half the children aged between 13 and 15 smoked.

Health minister Jamie Maxtone-Graham says it has got to stop. "Health costs is a huge burden to many countries worldwide. It's an escalating cost, every year it's increasing. So we need to mitigate this," he said.

At the Port Moresby General Hospital's oncology ward it is easy to see the pressure smoking is putting on the already fragile health system.

All but two of the beds are empty, not because there are no cancer patients but because the hospital has run out of drugs to treat them.

Head nurse Sister Ellie Winge says the situation will only get worse as the country's growing population continues to smoke. "There has to be some sort of control in the country," she said.

To reduce smoking, the health minister has announced a ban on smoking in public places. Manufacturers will be stopped from making five-packs of cigarettes.

The most controversial aspect of his plan is to make it illegal for street vendors to sell individual cigarettes.

The crackdown will be gazetted in coming months and the minister says he will create an enforcement unit.

All the street vendors the ABC talked to say they will ignore the ban.

Source: ABC News, 3 December

Tackling PNG’s maternal health crisis

DECADES OF NEGLECT, a failing health system and remote mountainous topography have created a “crisis in maternal health”, according to a government taskforce in Papua New Guinea.

While progress has been made since the taskforce released its recommendations in 2009, some 250 women are still dying for every 100,000 live births, according to a 2008 inter-agency estimate.

Maternal mortality rates in PNG doubled from 1996-2006 states the government’s most recent national health survey , which prompted the taskforce to find ways to make pregnancy less deadly.

Inaccessible and ill-equipped health centres, early pregnancies, poor care and ineffective communication are among the reasons health and aid workers cite for the still-high level of maternal deaths.

In PNG, the nearest health clinic might be hours by boat, foot, or in the luckiest of circumstances, local transport, from the village, says Miriam Lovai, former head of the national midwife association.

“On the Sepik and other rivers [women] are floated down on rafters consisting of tied banana trees or other logs,” said Lovai.

At least four out of 10 people in parts of PNG cannot access healthcare due to distance or lack of roads.

Even when a woman can access trained medical care, there is still little understanding of when to seek care during childbirth, said Grace Kariwiga from the UNICEF office in Port Moresby. “The woman, the family or the husband, often delay seeking care, because they don’t recognise the danger signals.”

“Most give birth at home, because there is a lack of money, and [transport] infrastructure, so it is difficult for them to come in,” said George Manapel from the national Department of Health in Goroka.

Nationwide, 53% of women gave birth with a skilled birth attendant in 2006, but access to healthcare in some provinces is worse than others, said the taskforce.

To make it easier for pregnant women to seek care, it recommended transport subsidies.

It also suggested expanding local solutions such as a “red card” system in the remote Trobiand Islands, where women in labour can display a red card on the side of the road, which obliges any car to take her to the nearest health centre.

In a recent index of health workers’ impact by Save the Children, PNG ranked in the bottom 20 of 161 surveyed countries.

Children in those countries, which all fall below the World Health Organisation minimum threshold of just over two health workers per 1,000 people, are five times more likely to die.

More care needed to treat pregnant women with HIV

NEARLY 90% OF PREGNANT WOMEN who are HIV positive in Papua New Guinea fail to receive care to help prevent the virus infecting their unborn child.

Dr Mobuma Kiromat, clinical director of the Clinton Health Access Initiative program that is countering parent to child transmission, said much had been done to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in PNG.

But more work was needed, particularly to assist pregnant women. "We still haven't got it right, the (health) coverage actually is still very low," she said.

Dr Kiromat said 2.3% of pregnant women with HIV had access to treatment to prevent the spread of the disease to their baby in 2007, and this figure had grown to 11.1% in 2009.

"We would like that number to be above 50%," she said.

PNG was hard hit by the spread of HIV but the situation has improved thanks to aid programs and estimates of the infection among the population are about 0.9%, Dr Kiromat said.

Pregnant women are vulnerable, with many pre-natal clinics unable to provide testing for the virus.

A program is being rolled out to treat women with anti-retroviral medication from early in their pregnancy until after the baby is delivered.  In these cases, transmission of the virus to the child falls from about 30% to 10%.

Source: The New Age / AFP, 30 November

WHO warns of PNG’s untreatable tuberculosis

BY LIAM FOX

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION is warning of the potential for an untreatable form of tuberculosis to develop on Australia's doorstep.

It says infections of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) in Papua New Guinea's remote south-west have reached crisis levels.

The country's health minister, Jamie Maxtone-Graham, says tuberculosis is now a greater health emergency than HIV/AIDS.

Dr Catharina Van Weezenbeek, from the World Health Organisation, says it is now clear the problem is in a state of emergency.

"If you just look at the numbers of MDR TB cases, it's clear that we're dealing with a crisis," she said.

"Children 14-years-old infected with MDR TB in a family with already five patients dying."

A research team from WHO found the rural health centres are rundown with very limited or no medical supplies.

There is no TB coordinator in the region so no one is monitoring patients to ensure they stick to the lengthy treatment of drugs required to beat the disease, meaning many do not.

WHO's Dr Donald Enarson says that has led to the emergence of MDR TB.

"Multi-drug resistance has passed from being created from bad treatment to now being established in a community by itself and spreading among community members," he said.

Local medical records show 94 people have contracted MDR TB in Western Province since 2005.

But the records are incomplete and WHO suspects those cases are just the tip of a much bigger iceberg.

The organisation's MDR TB expert, Dr Ernesto Jaramillo, says the situation has the potential to get much worse.

"When treatment is delivered under the current conditions which many patients are having, then it's a matter of months or years before we have forms of TB that cannot be cured," she said.

Half the identified cases of MDR TB were treated at tuberculosis clinics in the Torres Strait which is just a short boat ride across the maritime border with Australia.

Earlier this year Queensland's Department of Health said it would close the clinics because of a funding dispute with the Federal Health Department.

Australian tuberculosis experts have criticised the move as irresponsible.

But Dr Van Weezenbeek says despite the best of intentions, the treatment of PNG nationals across the border has contributed to the emergence of MDR TB.

"The cross border is, in fact, is complicating the situation. In fact most of those patients are being lost," she said.

Two dozen new beetles discovered in Aseki hotspot

BY JEREMY HANCE

OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES, at least 24 new beetle species have been discovered in a remote mountainous rainforest region of Papua New Guinea by Swedish entomologist Ulf Nylander.

Described in the new book Biodiversity, Biogeography and Nature Conservation in Wallacea and New Guinea, the new beetles found in the Aseki region are all ecologically linked to rotting wood.

The new beetle species belong to two different families with 15 new jewel beetles, and nine new longicorn beetles. Although new to science, the beetles are already gravely imperilled.

"Logging and palm oil plantations are expanding in Aseki," Nylander told mongabay.com. "The unique nature of this montane area is now in danger.

In his research, Nylander has found that the Aseki region is a notable hotspot for unique wood-devouring beetles, including over 50 species of weevils, scarab beetles, and stag beetles found no-where else in the world.

Entomologist Dr Dmitry Telnov, who also works in the region, says this part of the world is known for more than beetles.

"PNG’s Oro Province, not far from Aseki, is home to the world's largest butterfly, the majestic Queen Alexandra birdwing, which is a real beauty and is larger than many little birds.

“Queen Alexandra is the national insect of Papua New Guinea (it is found, for example, on coins) and is also locally protected. But the plants they depend on for food, Aristolochia schlecteri, is not protected at all," Telnov says.

Source: mongabay.com, 23 November
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/1123-hance_png_beetles.html#ixzz1eatR9dua

Coalition Senators say ‘keep TB clinics open’

QUEENSLAND LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY senators Sue Boyce [pictured] and Ian Macdonald have condemned plans by the Australian and Queensland governments to close the tuberculosis clinics in the Torres Strait on Saibai and Boigu.

“These clinics perform an invaluable service in providing world class medical care for people from both Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait,” Senator Boyce said.

“This is a highly infectious disease with terrible consequences if untreated. We have a duty of care to the people of Torres Strait to fight treatable infectious disease in our region that may threaten the health of all Australians.”

Queensland Health chief health officer Jeanette Young said Torres Strait Island residents would continue to receive treatment through a network of primary health centres.

“Current TB services for PNG nationals which are currently located within Australia will transition across the border into PNG,” Dr Young said.

“The Commonwealth’s decision will have no bearing on the diagnosis or treatment of Australian Torres Strait Island residents.”

Senator Boyce said the Commonwealth had a “moral and legal responsibility” under the 1991 Torres Strait Treaty to provide financial compensation to the Queensland Health system for the care it gave to people from PNG.

“It is simply stupid - and potentially dangerous - to close these clinics because of an argument over funding between Queensland and Federal Labor governments,” she said.

Senators Boyce and Macdonald have successfully moved a motion in the senate calling on the Commonwealth to provide long-term funding through AusAID to keep the clinics open and to protect the health and well-being of Torres Strait Australians.

“There have recently been two cases of drug-resistant TB in the Torres Strait. The combined governments’ inaction has the potential to cause a health calamity in northern Australia,” Senator Boyce said.

Source: Torres News Online, 18 November

Urgent call for national water legislation

PAPUA NEW GUINEA’s health ministry is calling for urgent new water legislation as the country struggles to make progress with sanitation, which threatens its Millennium Development Goals.

Acting Health Secretary Pascoe Kase said the problem is tricky because the ministry has no mandate to look after water, which is managed by various local agencies.

But he says when there’s a water challenge, authorities look to the ministry for help.

He said more clarity and focus are needed.

“Challenges in water and sanitation in Papua New Guinea is an urgent matter,” Mr Kase said.

“Urgency will be required now by our government to have a water policy in place. We are hoping to do that before this parliament rises. So we would want to get that probably the first quarter of next year.”

Pascoe Kase says a lot of information has been collected already so stakeholders now need to have their say in putting the new water policy together.

Source: Radio New Zealand International, 13 November

Protecting forests, welcomes & Greenpeace

BY JAMIE LING

MY NAME IS JAMIE, I work as the Online Manager in the Sydney office of Greenpeace. I’ve just arrived in Port Moresby to join the MY Esperanza on the second leg of the Defending the Pacific ship tour.

I have never been on a ship before other than a day trip to France from England, so the prospect of spending the next six weeks at sea is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking.

I’m just hoping I have inherited sea-legs from my grandfather who was a chief engineer in the merchant navy.

Papua New Guinea is a country rich in natural resources, which are sadly very much open to foreign exploitation. In the arrivals “lounge” at Port Moresby international airport the only tourist information is what looks like a guide book with tribesman on the front with a vivid yellow painted face, is in fact a mining and petroleum guide with handy map. This is very telling.

The map shows a PNG peppered in every region by mines, potential mines, petroleum projects and extensive logging, it is the map of a nation being plundered of every resource, every which way.

This plundering extends to the waters around PNG where overfishing and illegal fishing have caused a dramatic drop in the number of tuna, with some species threatened with extinction.

PNG’s fisheries and forests are unique and precious. They are also under serious threat.

Last week the Esperanza joined local land owners in the remote Pomio district in the East New Britain province to stand united in protest against notorious Malaysia logging company, Rimbunan Hijau to protect PNG’s vital forests.

“A major scandal involving the destruction of forests and the abuse of human rights is rapidly unfolding in my country,” said Greenpeace forests campaigner in PNG, Sam Moko.

Greenpeace has used its ships the Esperanza and the Rainbow Warrior to make four voyages across the Pacific, over the next six weeks we will again be defending the Pacific tackling tuna overfishing, pirate fishing and destructive fishing methods to support Pacific island countries in their efforts to manage the region’s tuna fisheries in a sustainable way.

You can help by signing this petition.

Source: Greenpeace Asia Pacific, 5 November.     Photo: Alex Hofford

9,000 small kids die for want of simple measures

THE LIVES OF ten newborn children in Papua New Guinea could be saved every day by basic and cost effective measures delivered by local community health workers, according to a report from the Burnet Institute and World Vision Australia.

The report says that educational and nutritional measures to support women in pregnancy and childbirth could save the lives of 70% of the 5,300 newborns who die each year in PNG.

Simple measures like encouraging breastfeeding in the first week could cut early childhood deaths by 8-19% .

Tim Costello, World Vision Australia CEO, says the researchers presented this analysis to the Australian parliament and to AusAID, and it will also form part of advice to the PNG Health Department.

Mr Costello says a stronger village health volunteer workforce delivering care packages could save up to 32% of maternal deaths, 70% of newborn deaths and 50% of child deaths each year if implemented in rural PNG.

This would assist PNG meet its goal to cut maternal deaths by half and child deaths by two-thirds by 2015.

The authors of the report, Dr Chris Morgan and Abbey Byrne from Burnet Institute, said, "We found that other nations with resources similar to PNG’s, such as Nepal or Pakistan, have been able to significantly reduce mothers’ and children’s deaths through innovative work at the family and community level ".

Sue England, World Vision’s Maternal, Newborn and Child Health advisor said, "The biggest impact could be on saving newborn babies lives. At least 60 per cent of all babies in rural PNG are born at home.

“Training village health volunteers and families to keep the newborn warm, cut the cord with a clean blade, breastfeed the baby early and promptly recognise signs of infection is essential."

Up to half the lives of the 9,000 children who die each year aged under five in PNG could be saved with broad, community-based nutrition and management of pneumonia and diarrhoea, the two biggest killers, the report says.

Launch: Pro Bono News, 4 November

Judiciary makes progress to uphold human rights

BY THAIS-LYN TRAYER

PAPUA NEW GUINEA is one of the most resource rich countries in the Pacific but has long struggled to protect human rights in the natural resource extractive industries.

In 2010 PNG’s natural resources made up 76% of the country’s $5.9 billion in export profits. PNG struggles to effectively manage this wealth, and was ranked 153 out of 187 countries in the 2011 United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index.

This economic disparity between the state, resource development corporations, and customary landowners has resulted in frequent conflict, including Bougainville’s nine-year civil war.

These clashes have also led to allegations of human rights violations against mining companies in particular, ranging from complicity in war crimes to extrajudicial killings.

On 26 July 2011, PNG’s National Court decided what could prove to be a landmark case for citizens seeking relief against human rights abuse by transnational corporations. In Medaing v. Ramu Nico Mgmt. Ltd., landowners and related third parties sued the owners of a nickel and cobalt mine for the harmful environmental impacts of its waste removal system.

The Appellate Court declined to grant a permanent injunction, which would have prohibited dumping into the Astrolabe Bay on the north coast of Madang Province. The decision nevertheless recognized two important legal bases for valid claims of action against human rights violations in the future.

The Medaing case was brought on behalf of customary landowners, as well as citizens without a proprietary interest in the mining site but potentially adversely affected by waste removal plans.

The National Court held that the plaintiffs had proper standing to bring their public and private nuisance claims due to their “close physical connection” and “genuine interest” in the land in question.

The plaintiffs sought a permanent injunction against Ramu Nico’s Deep Sea Tailings Placement system, which controversially proposed to deposit mining waste at sea levels where, allegedly, it would not harm marine life.

The court ruled that the DSTP system was both a public and private nuisance, since plaintiffs successfully showed the waste dumping would interfere with the use of their land, and furthermore cause inconvenience, damage, or harm to the general public.

Perhaps most importantly, the National Court recognized plaintiffs’ alleged breach of National Goal No. 4 as a justiciable claim of action. The preamble to the Constitution of PNG delineates five National Goals, including the conservation of natural resources and the environment for the collective benefit of PNG.

Section 25 of the Constitution declares these goals non-justiciable, but provides exceptions. The National Court held the exceptions to mean that it would not exceed its jurisdiction where “judicial power can reasonably be exercised in such a way as to give effect to the National Goals.”

The court continued to describe the National Goals as the “core values” of PNG, which should guide “all persons and bodies” under the authority of the Constitution. After interpreting Section 25 and ruling in favor of the plaintiffs on this claim, the court then held that the same exception did not require it to take further action.

The court, however, continued to cite the potentially severe economic consequences of disrupting mine operations at this late stage in its development, and declined to grant a permanent injunction.

PNG is at high risk from climate change

WHEN THE world's nations convene in Durban, South Africa, next month in the latest attempt to inch towards a global deal to tackle climate change, one fundamental principle will, as ever, underlie the negotiations.

It is the contention that while rich, industrialised nations caused climate change through past carbon emissions, it is the developing world that is bearing the brunt.

It follows from that, developing nations say, that the rich nations must pay to enable developing nations to develop cleanly and adapt to the impacts of global warming.

The point is starkly illustrated in a new map of climate vulnerability.  The rich global north has low vulnerability, the poor global south has high vulnerability.

The map shows that many areas of Papua New Guinea are classified as being at high risk, and a few at extreme risk, and that it is likely to be the poorest sections of society that bear the brunt of exposure to climate related hazards.

This is witnessed by large slum populations present in many of the rapidly growing cities where residents frequently have fragile livelihoods and poor access to basic resources, such as clean water.

Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/oct/26/climate-change-developing-country-impacts-risk#
http://maplecroft.com/about/news/ccvi_2012.html

The National and RH: Credibility at its worst

BY PAUL OATES

THE EDITORIAL in yesterday's The National railed against the actions of Greenpeace in the Pomio area of New Britain, as the environmental group sought to obstruct the export of local timber.

By an amazing coincidence, the parent company of the timber company involved in the exporting of local logs and the The National newspaper is … one and the same.

Yep!  You’ve got that right.  Conflict of interest, what’s that?

The editorial went on to suggest that Greenpeace may be losing its credibility.

Examples of how this may be happening included Greenpeace’s actions in destroying an experimental wheat crop in Australia.  It was claimed increased wheat yields might have benefited people currently starving in the Horn of Africa.

No one should condone illegal activities like the destruction of the legally grown wheat crop, irrespective of the reasons offered.

But the editorial then took this a step further – a step too far perhaps - and suggested that, by obstructing the export of Pomio timber, Greenpeace was actually opposing the expansion of the local oil palm industry.

The National claimed that research (exactly who did this research and relevant details were not stated) had shown that Greenpeace’s actions were threatening a K5 billion project that would support 3,000 jobs and 15,000 people’s lives over the next 25 years.

This equation alone suggests an extrapolation on a grand scale.

Exactly where these jobs are located and who would actually benefit from the K5 billion was not detailed.

Perhaps the number of jobs was a lot fewer and them merely the executives of a global conglomerate that is responsible for removing huge amounts of irreplaceable PNG timber resources for a song, in this case to plant oil palm plantations.

Oil palm plantations are notorious in producing nothing for the local people except some minor paid employment to harvest the crop and a vulnerable cash economy.

This pittance soon evaporates at the local trade store to buy food and essentials that were previously obtained from the local forest and land now growing inedible oil palms.

Yet, it is claimed, Greenpeace’s credibility is on the line. Yeah right!

Rio Tinto genocide claim reinstated by US court

BY KAREN GULLO

RIO TINTO GROUP, the world’s second- largest mining company, has lost a bid to throw out genocide and war crime claims in a US lawsuit filed by Papua New Guinea landowners accusing the company of human rights abuses and environmental damage.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Tuesday reversed the dismissal of the two claims while upholding a lower court judge’s decision to toss out claims of racial discrimination and crimes against humanity.

The court said claims of genocide and war crime fall within the limited category of issues that can be considered under a law allowing non-citizens to sue in the US for violations of international law.

In the 2000 lawsuit, landowners claimed Rio Tinto and the PNG government formed a joint venture to operate the Panguna copper mine on Bougainville, once the world’s largest, and were responsible for thousands of deaths related to civilian resistance to the mine.

The appeals court has sent the case back to federal district court in Los Angeles for further proceedings.

The case is Alexis Holyweek Sarei v Rio Tinto PLC, 02- 56256, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco).

Source: Business Week / Bloomberg, 25 October
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-25/rio-tinto-genocide-claims-reinstated-by-u-s-appeals-court.html

HMAS Broome averts maritime disaster in Coral Sea

THE CREW OF Royal Australian Navy patrol boat, HMAS Broome, prevented an environmental and maritime catastrophe off Papua New Guinea on Monday night by providing assistance to a container ship which had lost power and was drifting towards Ragelapra Reef.

On Monday morning the Australian Maritime Safety Authority requested Defence support in aiding the container vessel MV Vega Fynen, which had lost engine power and was drifting towards a reef, 100 nautical miles south-east of Port Moresby.

Commanding officer of Broome, Commander John Navin, said his ship’s company was preparing to berth at Alotau when the new orders were received.

“The crew took the change of task in their stride as our patrol boat turned away from port and increased speed,” Commander Navin said.

On receiving the call, Broome sailed 146 nautical miles to rendezvous with the 13,000-ton Vega Fynen and made contact with its captain to offer assistance to his crew should they be required to evacuate their ship.

While on-station, Broome’s command team confirmed Vega Fynen’s drift rate and direction and worked to develop options to prevent the almost certain grounding on the reef.

Commander Navin said his team planned a stern-to-stern tow option in the hope they could at least arrest the drift of Vega Fynen until commercial salvage vessels and tugs arrived.

“The tow line was passed to the Vega Fynen only 700 metres before the ship entered uncharted waters as the sun was setting.”

Despite the Vega Fynen’s large size and tonnage, Broome was able to arrest the northerly drift of the container vessel, and slowly pull the vessel south and away from immediate danger.

The Armidale Class patrol boat, dwarfed by the commercial carrier, kept the ship under tow for six hours before passing the tow line to a commercial tug better suited for the role.

After successfully handing over the job, the ship’s company of Broome sailed back to Alotau to continue their planned activities.

This morning they awoke to a congratulatory message from Port Moresby’s Rescue Coordination Centre saying that the actions of Broome almost certainly averted a major environmental disaster.

“The measured risks taken in this dangerous evolution proved of great benefit and not only held the Vega Fynen but slowly brought her back into deeper waters,” the message stated.

Commander Navin said the ship achieved a complicated task on a scale that had not been attempted by an Armidale Class patrol boat previously.

“The crew are proud of their achievement and satisfied that their training and skills were put to good use to save lives and save the environment.”

Source: Australian Department of Defence, 25 October

Greenpeace abandons blockade of logging ship

GREENPEACE HAS NOW abandoned its blockade of a Chinese ship carrying what the environmental group said were illegally-acquired logs from New Britain.

The Fu Tian docked in a lagoon near West Pomio, where 200 landowners gathered to protest the logging activities of Malaysian owned company Rimbunan Hijau (RH) and its subsidiary, Gilford Limited.

Greenpeace activists on board theit vessel the Esperanza painted "Stop the Land Grab" on the side of the Fu Tian early on Monday morning, Greenpeace forest campaigner Paul Winn said.

"The Fu Tian should be departing for China soon and we're trying to slow that down," he told AAP.  "We still claim that this is unlawful logging."

But Greenpeace spokeswoman Jessa Latona now says the blockade is over.

She said Greenpeace temporarily prevented logs from being loaded on a barge.

"We painted on the side 'stop the land grab' and while we were doing that the logging people on the ship threw rocks at us," she said.

"It didn't take long for us to get the picture pretty clearly that we could not continue with the blockade."

New Guinea Islands Police Commander Anton Billie said Greenpeace's protest was illegal because the group had failed to seek permission from provincial police.

Source: AAP / Sydney Morning Herald / Australia Network News, 26 October

Health workers battle against the odds in Saidor

BY SCOTT WAIDE

DILUNG GAMA and her daughter Martina [pictured] sit on bed in a small maternity ward at the Saidor Health Centre.  Martina, who suffers from epilepsy, gave birth near their village a few days ago.

The child has been given away for adoption and Dilung - who appears to be in her 60s - says this was because Martina has too many children.  She doesn’t say how many, but she points to a boy behind her and says: “That’s one of them.”

In Saidor, like in many other parts of Papua New Guinea, stories about the plight of women and children are all too common.  We’ve become desensitised to images and stories that would cause panic and alarm in other countries.

Martina is one of the lucky few who have made it to a health centre.  Her village is beside a road and she was fortunate that relatives brought her to Saidor in time.  Many others aren’t so fortunate.

“For instance, we get a radio message that says there’s a women in pain,” says Lynette Dawo [left], a community health worker.  “In fact, she’s been in pain for the last three or four days and the message has just reached us because it took several days for her husband to get to a radio.”

The Raikos area of Madang shares a common border with the Morobe Province.  The area is rugged and mountainous.  It’s people are scattered along a thin coastal strip stretching from the Astrolabe to Wasu in Morobe.  Many more live in hamlets in the precipitous hills overlooking the coast.  And transportation is extremely difficult when it comes to medical emergencies.

Lynette and other workers at Saidor are dedicated health professionals.  But their dedication and commitment has not always been enough to save lives because of transport difficulties.

“It is a painful place to work,” Lynette says.  “Our patients are like family.”

She recalls a medivac she requested several years ago for a woman who was suffering from birth complications.  She died while Lynette and other staff were desperately trying to find a boat.

“I cried for her.  I went to the health office and I said: ‘Why did it take so long to find the boat. We let her die’.”

Saidor had a sea ambulance once, bBut the heath centre didn’t have the money to get it fixed after it broke down 10 years ago. 

The health centre buildings are also badly in need of maintenance.  Workers point out that all available resources are channelled towards saving lives.  Transportation alone eats into the meagre user fees collected by the health centre.

“Sometimes we try to get the patients to pay for emergency transportation,” says Gabriel Puak [right].  “But they can’t afford it.  Transport difficulties also have a major impact on the local economy and people’s ability to make money.”

Gabriel holds a bachelor’s degree in midwifery.  In Saidor he has been able to reduce the number of deaths during birth.  He knows he could do a lot more if only he had the money and the transport to get the medicines and staff to the many rural locations that demand attention.

“Sometimes I sit at home and wonder why I was born here and why I chose this profession,” he says. “I’ve got the skills to do the job, but how do I get to those many people who need help?”

New malaria vaccine may save millions of lives

MILLIONS OF small children's lives could be saved by a new vaccine which has been shown to halve the risk of malaria in the first large-scale trials across seven African countries.

The long-awaited results of the largest-ever malaria vaccine study, involving 15,460 babies and small children, show that it could massively reduce the impact of the much-feared killer disease. Malaria takes nearly 800,000 lives every year – most of them small children under the age of five. It damages many more.

The vaccine has been in development for two decades – the brainchild of scientists at the UK drug company GlaxoSmithKline, which has promised to sell it at no more than a fraction over cost-price, with the excess being ploughed back into further tropical disease research.

"This data bring us to the cusp of having the world's first malaria vaccine, which has the potential to significantly improve the outlook for children living in malaria endemic regions across Africa," said GSK's chief executive, Andrew Witty.

"The addition of a malaria vaccine to existing control interventions such as bed nets and insecticide spraying could potentially help prevent millions of cases of this debilitating disease.

“It could also reduce the burden on hospital services, freeing up much needed beds to treat other patients who often live in remote villages, with little or no access to healthcare."

Source: The Guardian, 18 October.   Spotter: Peter Kranz
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/18/malaria-vaccine-save-millions-children

Cuban health model has important lessons for PNG

BY MARTYN NAMORONG

OUR HEALTH MINISTER recently flew to Cuba to seek assistance from the government there. There are many Papua New Guineans who pray that the Cubans will come and heal their sorrows. And indeed the clinical practice of these doctors will be of great value to the people.

But what many do not know is that Cuban doctors and Cuban healthcare is driven by ideology. It is a social contract between the people and their government. And it is upon that relationship between the state and society that social medicine is practiced.

The concept of social medicine stems from this maxim of a late 19^th century German physician Rudolf Virchow, who said: “Do we not always find the diseases of the populace traceable to defects in society”?

Virchow saw the obvious disparities in health between upper and lower classes in 19^th century Europe and conceptualised the relationships between societal existence and health.

Later in the 20^th century his views were shared by another physician named Ernesto Che Guevara.

Guevera was an Argentine physician who later became a leader of the Cuban revolution. As a young medical student, he travelled throughout South America in 1950-51 and became radicalised by the social injustice as prevalent throughout the continent.

Also known as El Che, this physician, author, intellectual, diplomat and military theorist believed that politics was a form of medical practice. Echoing Virchow, Che said: “[The revolution’s task — the task of training and nourishing the children, the task of educating the army, the task the lands of the old absentee landlords among those who sweated every day on that same land without reaping greatest work of social medicine that has been done in Cuba.”

There are exciting opportunities that present themselves with the prospect of the arrival of Cuban doctors on PNG soil. Indeed, the nation has been looking in the wrong direction throughout its short history when many solutions to our problems lie in the South American continent.

In terms of healthcare, there has to be a shift towards social medicine. Communities need a greater say and participation in the delivery of health services.

The model of medical education; although clinically sound, is based upon training of doctors for a Western healthcare system that does not exist in this nation. Doctors are not trained to function with-in this health system so they get frustrated over the lack of support they receive to practice medicine.

Indeed, medical training is heavily focused on medical sciences and clinical medicine, which is fine, but is based on the assumption that the other determinants of health will be catered for by someone.

For example, a medical student in Australia does not have to worry so much about the politics and administration of healthcare because the systems in place take care of that and support the work of that student when he/she becomes a clinician.