A Māori health leader says a new international misinformation study confirms the alarm many were desperately trying to raise last year about the impact on Māori during the initial vaccine rollout.

The article in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface shows misinformation makes it harder to stop illness spreading during a pandemic.

It states conspiracy theories spread through communities already distrustful of authority.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update – Sunday: 8810 new community cases, 18 deaths, 690 people in hospital
• Covid-19 update – Saturday: 23 new deaths, 11,560 community cases, 678 in hospital
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

It modelled trusting individuals who seek better quality information and take precautionary measures; and distrusting people who reject quality information and have riskier behaviour.

It found major outbreaks cannot be suppressed once the density of distrusting individuals exceeds a certain threshold.

It says its findings highlight the importance of effective interventions to build trust and inform the public.

Māori ‘exposed to significant misinformation for longer’
National Māori Pandemic Group co-leader Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen said the Māori population was younger, so many had to wait to be eligible to get their vaccine dose.

“They [were] exposed to a significant amount of misinformation for longer.

“That’s created a problem for us in terms of getting the momentum for the vaccination programme into the right place.”

Dr McKree Jansen said the unvaccinated were being hit hardest by the omicron wave.

As of Friday, only 88 percent of Māori have had their second dose, and 58 percent their third compared with 95 percent and 73 (72.7) percent respectively of the general population.

As of yesterday, 378 people have died with covid-19 and the seven-day rolling average is now 18.

McKree Jansen said Māori were now dying with covid-19 because of that misinformation.

He said for Māori and Pacific communities it was particularly troubling because those who were dying with the virus were in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, rather than older people in other populations.

He said Māori and Pacific populations should have been prioritised in the vaccine rollout.

The Waitangi Tribunal has released a scathing ruling of the government’s covid-19 response and vaccine rollout, saying Māori were put at risk.

The tribunal said cabinet’s decision to go against official and expert advice and not prioritise Māori breached the Treaty principles of active protection and equity.

Misinformation has disrupted families, but is resolvable
Dr McKree Jansen said misinformation had disrupted social and familial connection but he believed it was resolvable.

“We should actually spend the time and the effort to restore relationships with those people that have been affected by it.

“It is being very clear that health services are here to help people.

“I think it is conversations we’ll have within families to restore mana for people who feel that [they have] been belittled, to ensure that people know that they are loved and that they are cared for.”

He said the focus needed to be on learning the lessons and making sure it did not happen again.

“And making sure that when we say we are committed to equity that we do all the things necessary to achieve it.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A Fijian psychologist is calling on people in Fiji to work together to tackle issues associated with mental health amid the covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing a prayer vigil to remember the victims of suicide in Suva, Dr Selina Kuruleca said people must assist one another and reach out to those struggling due to the pandemic.

The Health Ministry says about 90 Fijians have died from suicide this year while there have been 82 attempted suicides.

Dr Kuruleca, who is chair of the National Committee on Prevention of Suicide in Fiji, said suicides were responsible for the majority of deaths of younger Fijians.

“The highest number of deaths in young people or youths between the ages of 15 to 29 is deaths by suicide. These are preventable deaths. There are more deaths from suicides than there are from road accidents or drowning,” Dr Kuruleca said.

Dr Kuruleca urged community and church leaders to reach out to their members and help those suffering depression or other mental health-related issues.

Fiji marked International Suicide Prevention Day last week with September named the country’s Mental Health month.

Traumatic for those left behind
Last week’s vigil was organised by Lifeline and supported by Psychiatric Survivors Association, Youth Champs for Mental Health and the Fiji Council of Social Services.

Speaking at the vigil, Dr Kuruleca said death from suicide was traumatic for all those left behind and it should never be an option.

She encouraged those present at the event to support those families that had been impacted by the suicide of a loved one.

Dr Kuruleca urged people not to judge but show action that they cared for them.

“Make a commitment today to be persistent in your compassion, to be genuine in your advocacy and to be mindful of our realities,” she said.

“Everyone needs to work together – from Empower Pacific, Lifeline, youth champs for mental health, medical services pacific, women’s crisis centre, women’s rights movement, the LGBTQI community and of course, our faith-based organisations.

“We all have a part to play and we must play it.”

The theme of the Mental Health Month is Working Together, she said.

• Fijians who need help can call the 24-hour child helpline on 1325, domestic violence on 1560, Lifeline on 132454 and Empower Pacific on 7765626 if they need counselling or want to talk to a counsellor.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

So it’s a global pandemic with 16,000+ dead already, more than 375,000 infected and nearly 102,000 recovered.

It was a national health worry. But within days, it became a national emergency. The Prime Minister James Marape taking advice from the National Security Council, a state of emergency declared and Police Commissioner David Manning appointed SOE controller.

For the first time in Papua New Guinea’s history, all the politicians and all the top bureaucrats are in the country.

READ MORE: Papua New Guinea orders lockdown

None of them want to be overseas. Even the crooks who stole from Papua New Guinea’s health system and made millions from the bribes want to be here in a country which is largely Covid-19 free (at least for now).

The irony of it all just gives you warm fuzzy feelings. What a beautiful example of poetic justice?

Australia, Singapore, China and the rest of the world are the least attractive places for anyone right now.

Every public official who thumbed their noses at Papua New Guinea’s health system and went overseas for medical treatment, now expects our underpaid doctors and nurses to build facilities that will be Covid-19 ready in weeks.

Big ask.

Invest in our health system
Oops! Why didn’t we invest in the health system and build it up for our people? Maybe, just maybe, one day we might need to use it. That day has come. A bit early, I must say.

Here is another piece of irony for you. The safest places in Papua New Guinea right now are the villages where up to 70 percent of health facilities are closed because of lack of funding and lack of medicines.

Hundreds of villagers have been in “self-isolation” for decades. They don’t have to maintain “social distancing”.

A lead team member in Morobe’s Covid-19 response team said on Saturday: “The safest place right now is in the villages. They can easily self-isolate.”

I didn’t say that, he did.

While there are reports of urban dwellers, panic buying food items. Food security in the villages remains constant. The Western Highlanders will be complaining about having too much kaukau, potato, broccoli and cabbages because interprovincial travel has been drastically reduced and the Lae Market is closed.

I’d rather complain about having too much healthy food than about too many deaths from Covid-19.

Screaming for government attention
The PND Defence Force has been called on to provide security with the police. They have a funding shortage, planes that are grounded, facilities that have been screaming for government attention for decades.

They’ve been put on alert to be battle ready against Covid-19. Big ask. But I don’t doubt their abilities.

But let’s buy them the equipment, uniforms, vehicles and training. With our money.

Let’s make them a force to be reckoned with. Give them the planes and the choppers so they can support us with pride.

Let’s not wait for a global crisis to do that.

We face an economic crisis brought on by Covid-19. If there was any time in history to invest in agriculture (and I don’t mean oil palm), this is the time. This is the time to plant for the next 6-12 months to increase food security.

But at the same time, we should be building systems for the future when the rest of the world collapses around us.

Scott Waide is EMTV News deputy editor based in Lae. His My Land, My Country blog items are frequently republished with permission by the Pacific Media Centre

A few days ago, I asked Sally Lloyd about the picture she posted on Facebook of a distraught mother weeping over the body of her baby who had died. This is the story behind the picture.

They are from Fomabi Village near Nomad, Western Province.

The child got sick with pneumonia, I believe and Nomad Health Centre could not help them. The facility there has been very run down and ill equipped for a very long time.

READ MORE: Scott Waide’s “My Land, My Country” blog

They then had to make the long walk to Mougulu health centre for many hours to get further help.

Unfortunately, the child died the following afternoon, and without any helpers with them the parents had to walk back to their village with the dead child.

They were of course heartbroken and it was very hard to send them on their way into darkness and a storm.

Faced difficulties in life
The woman has already faced some difficulties in her life. She was totally distraught, waving her arms and crying out.

When Sally went to the clinic she said it was her first time to visit Mougulu and this had happened.

Earlier on Facebook, Sally posted:

“That sound I hate…the grief of the parents of this precious eight-month-old indicating the worst had happened.

“This evening they have the long walk back (6 to 8 hours at least) to Fomabi Village with a very heavy burden – almost too much to bear.

“The father offloaded some heavy food items and we gave high protein food and fish, a torch and umbrella – it’s going to storm tonight.

“God knows how much we need that emergency vehicle – to bring patients more quickly, but also for parents who should not have to walk a day (or all night) to get home and bury their child.”

“RIP Ezekiel.”

Scott Waide is a leading Papua New Guinean journalist and deputy news editor of EMTV News based in Lae. His blog items are republished by the Pacific Media Centre on Asia Pacific Report with permission.

In Lae City, Papua New Guinea’s second-largest city, there are seven urban clinics, each serving between 100 and 150 patients a day.  They get their medical supplies form the Government Area Medical Store (AMS) in Lae.

The AMS  in Lae also supplies the Highlands and the rest of Momase.

For the last six years, staff at the clinics have  been battling  medicine shortages.  You can see,  first hand,  how the medicine shortage affects people in Lae.

READ MORE: PNG faces ‘catastrophe’ if no crisis action taken

At Buimo Clinic on Friday,  a mother and baby came in  for treatment.  She  was  told that the last bottles of Amoxicillin suspensions would be given for her child  and that she  would have to go to a pharmacy to complete the treatment course.

The woman’s name is Merut Kilamu.  She lives with her family at Bundi Camp in Lae.  She is not just a statistic.  She is a real person who is bearing the brunt of the ongoing medicine shortages.

“Sometimes, we are able to buy the medicine,” she says. “Other times,  when we don’t have the money, we can’t buy what we need.”

Patients go from the clinics to  Angau Hospital in the hope that they will get  the medicines  they need. But Angau can’t handle the numbers.  Hospital staff have even  posted on Facebook saying they too need the basic supplies of antibiotics, antimalarial drugs and consumables like gauze, gloves and syringes.

Hospitals and clinics have become little more than prescription factories channeling their patients to pharmacies who charge the patients upwards of K40 (about NZ$18) for medicines. Pharmacies are profiting from the desperation and ill health of the Papua New Guineans.

Prices increased
In 2017, when clinics ran out of antimalarial drugs, pharmacies increased the prices.

In some instances, officers in charge of clinics felt the need to negotiate with pharmacies to keep their prices within an affordable range.  It is difficult for staff in smaller clinics to send away patients knowing they can’t afford  to pay for medicines.

“Sometimes, we can’t send them away. Staff have to fork out the money to help them pay,” says Miriam Key, nurse manager at Buimo  clinic.

This is a nationwide medicine shortage!

As much as  the politicians dislike it, social media gives a pretty accurate dashboard view of the health system from the end user.  Charles Lee posted on Facebook about how the medicine shortage was affecting his family in Mt Hagen.

“Relatives in Hagen have flown to POM to seek medical treatment because of a shortage of drugs in Hagen.”

His post drew more than 20 comments.

Gloria Willie  said from Mt Hagen:

“They just discharged a relative from ICU and we are taking her to Kundjip (Jiwaka Province)  today and if they are not allowed to receive  medical attention then, we are also planning to bring her to port Moresby. It is really frustrating.  But because of our loved ones, we are trying any possible way to have them treated.”

‘Stay at home’
Melissa Pela responded saying:

“Same here in Kavieng. Patients told to buy Panadol and keep at home. If you feel something like fever/running nose etc.. just take it. They say treat it before it becomes serious because there is simply no medicine.”

The officer in charge of Barevaturu clinic in Oro Province, Nigel Tahima,  said by phone,  the  they are seeing an increase in the number of patients  because other clinics just don’t have  medicine.

The reports are flooding in from all over the country. There are too many to mention in one blog post.

If urban clinics are a gauge to measure the flow of medicines from the AMS to the patient, you can imagine what rural clinics are going through.

They are too far from the AMSs and too far to adequately monitor. The only way to get an understanding of their problems is when staff make contact or when you go there.

Scott Waide’s blog columns are frequently published by Asia Pacific Report with permission. He is also EMTV deputy news editor based in Lae.

• More PNG health stories
  

Battlelines are being drawn as New Zealand and Pacific countries lobby for an important appointment at the World Health Organisation.

The region’s health ministers had all agreed to support a Pasifika candidate, but offers of aid and influence from Asian countries have left that in doubt.

Hundreds of millions of health dollars are at stake as the region grapples with a number of crises including diabetes and even the re-emergence of polio.

The regional director nominee, Dr Colin Tukuitonga, says the small island communities do not get a fair deal from the World Health Organisation.

“People complain about resource limitations, there is never enough money. The voice of the islands is often drowned out by the voices of the bigger Asian countries,” he said.

It is why New Zealand has nominated Dr Tukuitonga as the WHO regional director.

At a recent meeting, Pacific health ministers unanimously agreed to support that nomination.

Sudden change
But things suddenly changed. Both the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea have gone back on their agreement, publicly expressing commitment to Japan.

“This is an opportunity to remain united and influence a particularly important position for the health of the people of the region. And clearly we have two members who haven’t honoured their commitment to regionalism,” Dr Tukuitonga said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says the government hopes that the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea “will this time sign up for their own neighbourhood rather than bargain their vote off somewhere else for alternative reasons”.

Coincidentally, Japan has made aid offers to island countries, including a major international airport extension and rebuild for the Solomon Islands.

“A free airport does not improve the health of the Pacific people,” Peters said.

Dr Tukuitonga said: “Some of our island members are very vulnerable, very susceptible to these offers. And that’s the unfortunate thing I think.”

Nonetheless there’s been solid support for Dr Tukuitonga who’s pledging to fight for a region he’s already dedicated to.

Projected decline
“WHO budget is projected to decline. There’s a lot to be said about getting a fair share for our region because if you do that then you have a better chance of allocating a decent level of resource to our island members,” he said.

Peters said: “We start with a huge asset on our side. We have got the right candidate.”

It would be an historic win for the Pacific as the role has always been held by Asia.

Thirty countries will decide if the time is right for change in October.

Barbara Dreaver is the Pacific affairs correspondent of Television New Zealand. This article is republished with permission.

The estimated financial cost and economic burden of diabetes in Fiji reached a staggering $124 million (NZ$84 million) in 2014 with health experts sounding an urgent need for people to relook at their lifestyles and eating habits.

Dr Jone Hawea, a medical doctor and codirector of the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprise and Development, did not mince words when he told participants at the Media and Diabetes Advocacy Workshop in Suva last week about the reality of the disease he tagged as an “ongoing disaster”.

According to Dr Hawea, the total yearly financial cost of diabetes in Fiji in 2014 took into account factors such as the total productivity cost for patients and carers and excluded estimates such as private health care costs, out of pocket expenditures and other tangible indirect costs which were difficult to obtain.

“So you can imagine, the true financial cost is therefore very likely to be higher, a high estimate of about $180.3m,” he said.

“Diabetes has the single highest impact on productivity of all non-communicable diseases in Fiji.”

He said diabetes imposed a huge financial and non-financial burden on Fiji’s economy, adding the latter amounted to more than 56,000 years of life lost because of ill-health, disability or premature death.

“Diabetes is largely preventable, so a large portion of these enormous and unnecessary costs can be averted,” Dr Hawea said.

Tangible solutions
While opening the workshop, Assistant Minister for Health Alex O’Connor said the gathering of media professionals and partners in health and wellness programmes was a platform to find tangible solutions to combat this major health issue.

“About 15 percent of Fiji’s adult population have diabetes and another 15 percent have impaired fasting glucose – these are people who have high blood sugar and are at risk of being diagnosed with diabetes,” O’Connor said.

Journalists from print and broadcast media as well as student journalists from the University of the South Pacific, civil society and non-governmental organisations, and the Fiji National University were part of the one-day event, which was organised by Diabetes Fiji in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.

Adi Ana Civavonovono is a final year journalism student at the University of the South Pacific reporting for Wansolwara News.

The decision to terminate a long-standing arrangement that saw the Australian High Court act as a partial appellate court for Nauru, as reported last week, has heightened concerns about Nauru’s appropriateness as a venue for an Australian immigration detention centre.

The timing of the decision – 90 days’ notice of the termination was quietly given to the Australian Government on 13 December – appears to have been designed to block the avenue of appeal for 19 citizens (several former Nauruan MPs among them) charged over a 2015 protest outside the Parliament of Nauru.

However, it has also served to further erode the rights of hundreds of asylum seekers, including dozens of children, currently in Nauru.

The cancelled court arrangement had been in place since 1976, yet determined only 16 cases in total. Thirteen of those cases were heard in 2017, with 11 brought by asylum seekers disputing the refusal of refugee status.

Of those 11 cases, only one was dismissed. Eight were successful, and two were dropped due to refugee status being granted in the interim.

Nauru has declared it will set up its own court of appeal, but in the meantime asylum seekers are denied the basic legal right of appeal.

In response to the termination becoming public, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declared:

Australia supports Nauru’s sovereignty and its December 2017 decision to terminate the treaty in advance of the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence.

Secretive nature
Australia is right to support Nauru’s assertion of sovereignty, and the removal of this somewhat awkward arrangement – an oddity the Australian Law Reform Commission recommended terminating in 2001.

But Australia also needs to question the secretive nature of the announcement, its politically motivated timing, and the fact that the termination took effect before an alternative appeals court could be established.

Several legal rulings and a Senate inquiry have determined that Australia has a duty of care in relation to the asylum seekers in our facilities, regardless of their location, and this development indicates a further blow to the rights of an already vulnerable population.

This shutdown of a legal avenue of appeal is not the only reason to question the ongoing appropriateness of Nauru as a site for Australia’s immigration detention centre.

In the past few months, a steady stream of cases have demonstrated Nauru’s lack of capacity to deal with the mounting number of health issues among asylum seekers held on the island.

Despite Australia’s claim that “healthcare in Nauru is the responsibility of the government of Nauru”, in reality, Nauru is unable to meet asylum seekers’ needs.

The Australian government’s own health contractor on the island has declared the hospital in Nauru to be unsafe for surgery, and Nauru has no permanent specialist child psychiatrists.

Suicide risk
In 2018 alone, there have been two cases (here and here) of juveniles at acute risk of suicide on Nauru being ordered by Australian courts to be transferred to Australia for treatment.

Taiwan has also been used as an alternative venue for surgical treatment not available in Nauru. Because Taiwan is not a UN member state, and therefore not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees transferred there cannot claim protection on their arrival.

A consideration of Australia’s duty of care in relation to the asylum seekers housed on Nauru begs the question of why Australia continues to doggedly prioritise the US resettlement deal to the exclusion of all other options?

This is particularly pertinent in light of President Donald Trump’s recent escalation of negativity towards immigrants and refugees, and the slow pace at which the US deal is unfolding.

UNHCR Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific in Geneva, Indrika Ratwatte, recently urged the Australian government to reconsider the offer by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made in November, and reaffirmed this week.

By doing so, Australia could quickly bring an end to the suffering of many of the detainees who remain on Nauru.

Ultimately, Australia needs to recognise that the asylum seekers on Nauru are its responsibility, and that Nauru’s declining ability to provide them with adequate care and basic rights is a problem that must be solved.

Erin Harris is a research associate at the Lowy Institute, where she works with both the Diplomacy and Public Opinion Programme and the Digital Program. Her research interests include gender, development and the Pacific. This article originally appeared on The Interpreter, published by the Lowy Institute and is republished with the permission of the author.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has called for more action about the health crisis facing Asmat regency in Indonesian-ruled Papua.

The commission has blamed the Indonesian government “for this considerable loss of life”.

“The current efforts to address the problem are simply too little, too late,” it said in a statement from Hongkong.

So far, 68 children have died from measles and serious malnutrition in Asmat.

As reported by national media in Indonesia, the measles and malnutrition epidemic has affected 11 districts of Asmat regency: Swator, Aswi, Akat, Fayit, Pulau Tiga, Kolf Branza, Jetsy, Pantai Kasuari, Safan, Unirsarau, and Siret.

“Being the most remote areas of Asmat regency, victims in these districts have faced serious difficulties in obtaining access to medical facilities,” the AHRC statement said.

“Even in the regency’s capital, Agats, the Agats General Hospital (RSUD) is not equipped to deal with all the patients of measles and malnutrition.”

Patients in church
A category D hospital with limited facilities, paramedics and doctors, the hospital at present needed more medicine due to limited stock, and due to limited space, some patients have been hospitalised in the nearest church building, the AHRC statement said.

This circumstance showed how Papua had been left behind in terms of health facilities, infrastructure and development.

In Jakarta, Java island or other islands such as Sumatra and Bali, there were numerous public and private hospitals of type B and A, easy to access, the statement said.

Papua mostly has public hospitals of type D, especially in remote areas. There is a category A hospital in Jayapura city, the capital of Papua, but it is quite far from Agats and to reach Jayapura from Agats is not easy due to the lack of infrastructure.

“This situation clearly highlights how neither the central government of Indonesia in Jakarta, nor the local government in Papua province and Asmat regency have been able to develop an early warning system to prevent measles and malnutrition.”

The AHRC said it was concerned that the epidemic could easily spread to other places in Papua, particularly in remote areas lacking in health facilities.

Since Papua was integrated into the Republic of Indonesia in 1969, Papua has remained the poorest and least developed province.

Citizens’ rights
As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Indonesia was obligated to:

• ensure its citizens’ rights to be free from hunger;
• address the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; and
• create conditions which would assure medical attention to all.

Similarly, national laws such as Law No. 36 of 2009 guaranteed the right to equal health access for all citizens, the AHRC said.

The commission said it viewed the current lack of health access and facilities in Papua – and the deaths of 68 children – as a clear violation of the Indonesian government’s responsibility towards its citizens.

“By not developing equal health care in Papua, the government is to blame for this considerable loss of life. The current efforts to address the problem are simply too little, too late,” the statement said.

The AHRC said the government should immediately announce a health emergency in Papua and open access for medical aid, including international medical support. It should also allow access to the media to ensure accountability and to monitor the eradication of the epidemic.

The government also needed an affirmative action policy to boost development of health access in Papua.

Priority for Papua
The assistance from the central government should not merely be limited to eradicating disease in Asmat regency, but should ensure that remote areas in Papua received priority in development of health access, facilities and infrastructure, the statement said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the Minister of Health and Ombudsman of Republic of Indonesia, the House of Representatives, in particular Commission IX which concerns health, food and medicines, should take initiatives to monitor, evaluate and ensure the implementation of such policies, the AHRC said.

Local government should also open access for NGOs and media to monitor the recovery and development in remote areas.

The AHRC also urged the government to comprehensively ensure that all children, including pregnant mothers in Papua, particularly in Asmat regency, were given enough nutrition, food, and vaccines to prevent disease.

• More West Papua articles

An unprecedented level of mismanagement of Papua New Guinea’s affairs since 2012 has caused serious health issues, including widespread suffering and preventable deaths, reports Loop PNG.

The opposition’s Shadow Minister for Health and HIV/AIDS, Joseph Yopyyopy, has called for swift and appropriate government action to prevent further deterioration of PNG’s most basic and essential health services.

He warned of “catastrophic consequences” resulting from government inaction while noting that the PNC-led government drastically cut health spending for the past three years, including 2017.

Yopyyopy cited most recent instances, including:

• Laloki Psychiatric Hospital in Central Province being on the verge of closure with patients likely to be sent back home to their families due to shortage of medical drugs at the hospital. (Director of Medical Services at the hospital Dr Ludwig Nanawar revealed this as the institution marked World Mental Health Day on Oct 10);
• Health workers in Manus Province have been without such medicine for more than a month;
• Medicines running out PNG-wide with health facilities lacking essential equipment and in a state of disrepair;
• Health workers not being paid properly with doctors and health workers threatening stop work; and
• Recent media reports of a story from Abau district where a ward councillor claimed more than 20 people had died in the past two years due to medicine shortage.(People had to be taken to Port Moresby for treatment while some died along the way).

Other unreported cases are indicators of very serious system failure, the shadow minister said.

Yopyyopy noted that from the 2015 to 2017 budget, health funding was cut by 40 percent from K1.7 billion to K1.2 billion.

He also warned of further planned cuts of up to 30 percent over the next five years (to about K850 million).

Yopyyopy cited some “shocking” statistics about PNG’s state of health, including:

• In 2016, health cuts hurt many people, but fortunately the impact was softened by external health funding which may not be available;
• According to latest reports, PNG’s tuberculosis (TB) crisis is yet to be brought under control;
• ChildFund Australia estimates that up to 9000 PNG citizens died from TB in the past three years – one out of four are children);
• On PNG’s maternal and child mortality, a government decision in late 2016 to pay for women to give birth in a clinic or hospital was in fact an “admission of defeat”;
• Health experts have explicitly expressed that the health funding cuts have destroyed people in rural and remote areas where the need is urgent; and
• Up to 1500 women die in childbirth each year, and about 45 babies out of every 1000 die.

The UN estimates that about 12,000 children under five die each year, reports Loop PNG.

Also, a recent Asia Development Bank (ADB) report shows that PNG has some of the worst health indicators in the Asia-Pacific region:

• The prevalence of stunting among children under the age of five is 49.5 percent, ranking 29th out of 30 countries with information;
• The prevalence of malnutrition (wasting) among children under five is 14.3 percent, the highest rate for 30 countries;
• The maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births is 215, the equal third highest of 40 countries;
• The under-five mortality rate per 1000 live births is 57, the fourth highest of 43 countries;
• The number of new HIV aids infections in 2015 is 0.36 per 1000 of the uninfected population – the highest of 21 countries;
• The TB incidence per 100,000 people is 432, the second highest of 44 countries; and
• The incidence of malaria per 1000 people is 185, nearly double the next highest incidence.

Yopyyopy said facts speak volumes and it is incumbent on the government to stop painting a false picture when in fact, there are very serious underlying health issues affecting PNG.

“The government is not only duty bound, but morally obliged to put the health issues of PNG citizens above all else,” he added.

The Fiji government has called for expressions of interest from public relations firms since the contract for the US-based Qorvis Communications, which handles the state’s public relations, is nearing expiry.

Economy Minister and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told Parliament this following a motion by National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad to remove the F$1 million allocation in the 2016-2017 National Budget for the public relations firm.

Professor Prasad told Parliament this week that the nature of the firm itself was questionable.

“They [Qorvis Communications] have worked with countries, with regimes, which have tried very hard to hide information which have used propaganda,” he said.

“I think some of the things which we see in this country today and some coming from the government, is actually a reflection of the kind of work, the kind of advice that this PR firm is giving to the government,” he said.

Dr Prasad said while the $1 million allocation would appear to be a small amount, it was an unnecessary expenditure since the government had only allocated $300,000 for kidney dialysis.

“I call upon the government to do away with this PR firm.

“They have the whole Communication Ministry, they have an Information Department, government has all the resources to take its activities — its PR — whatever they do more than they should be doing and so I don’t understand why they need this firm anymore.”

Telling government stories
Sayed-Khaiyum said a PR firm was needed to tell government’s stories not only in the local media, but internationally as well.

“We need our stories to be told in The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Guardian and that obviously requires people who operate in that space.

“We need our stories picked up by not just only the Australian and New Zealand media.

“We need our stories told in other parts of the world where they help us to be able to spread our public relations in all aspects of government and investment opportunities.”

He said in this light it was a very small price to pay.

“A lot of companies have applied, including Qorvis itself. The contract is expiring and we will then be able to either renew the contract or select someone else, or maybe select a panel of people.”

Nasik Swami is a Fiji Times reporter

Last week I watched in absolute disgust as MPs in Papua New Guinea giggled and laughed as the Minister for Health made light humour over the fact that the government had slashed funding for Church-run health facilities to the tune of K50 million (about NZ$23 million).