Papua New Guinea

Today, a decade after a peace agreement was signed, there is only one functioning hospital for a population of around 200,000. 

Family and sexual violence have long been recognized as serious problems in Papua New Guinea; nearly 20 years ago a government study revealed shocking levels of violence throughout the country.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a resource-rich land that won independence from its southern neighbor, Australia, in 1975 but has lagged in terms of development. The population is made up of several hundred ethnic groups that speak different dialects. Poverty is widespread, and PNG has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific region. It has also long been plagued by high rates of crime and extremely high rates of domestic violence and violence against women. Seventy percent of women in PNG say they’ve been physically abused by their husbands, according to the PNG Law Reform Commission, and in some parts of the country that number reaches 100 percent.

Each month, between 200 and 300 new patients come to the MSF clinic in Lae. They have all been raped, beaten or attacked with knives.

MSF has completed a seven month-long emergency cholera intervention in Papua New Guinea.

MSF announced its withdrawal of all international staff from a Tari, Papua New Guinea, hospital because of continued insecurity on hospital grounds. “In the past few weeks, there have been repeated security incidents including threats to our staff that we cannot tolerate,” said Monique Nagelkerke, head of mission for MSF in the country.

MSF, already working in Lae, was able to mobilize quickly and assist the ministry of health in responding to the outbreak. Initially, an isolation ward was set up in the Angau Hospital, but when cases increased, a treatment center was constructed in the front of the hospital.

A high number of cholera cases have been found in the small city of Wasu in the first known cholera outbreak in Papua New Guinea in 50 years. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is assisting health authorities by treating people affected by the already deadly outbreak at the local Angau hospital.