FINALLY the decicision has been made and we have a new health secretary – Dr Clemen Malau. The health department has been riddled with allegations of corruption in the midst of deteriorating PNG’s health indicators and I think most health workers will welcome the appointment of Dr Clement Malau.

Here is a short profile of Dr Clement Malau.

• Qualifications: MBBS (PNG), MMedComMed (PNG), MPH (Harvard), DTM&H (Bangkok).
• Specialisation – Public Health Managment.
• Position prior to appointment – public health management specialist with Centre for International Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne.

I obtain this from the Burnet Institute’s website regarding Dr Clement Malau.

“Dr  Clement Malau is a Public Health Management Specialist with the Centre for International Health who joined the Centre in 2003. Within weeks of appointment Clement took up the role as Project Director for the Pacific Regional HIV/AIDS Project and co-facilitated in the Pacific Islands regional Asia Pacific Leadership Forum (APLF) Workshop for HIV/AIDS. A practical and well known Public Health worker in the Pacific Region with a wide range of experiences in developing and managing health systems, Clement  is an important addition to the Center’s growing number of staff.

With a practical background he is a valuable asset to teaching practical skills in developing health programmes in developing countries and international public health.
Clement was born and grew up in Papua New Guinea (PNG). After obtaining MBBS degree in Medicine from the University of Papua New Guinea, he spent time with the Papua New Guinea Defense Forces where he saw the importance of public health and preventative medicine and took up the challenges of a Public Health career.

His professional development includes a postgraduate diploma in tropical medicine and public health from the Mahidol University in Bangkok, a Masters of Medicine (Community Health) form the University of Papua New Guinea and a Masters of Public Health from the Harvard University’s Harvard School of Public Health.
Influenced by the late Professor Jonathan Mann, Clement took up the challenges of linking public health with human rights. There is a need to have a collective approach in addressing all basic human needs. Acknowledging that all human needs are the same and that all humans occupy the same global village, he decided to take up international public health practice as a life time commitment.

His commitment, hard work and enthusiasm has given him the opportunity to Manage the Community Health Programme for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community  for a period of three years and also  managed the East Timor Trust Fund facility set up by the World Bank to support the reconstruction of the health sector in East Timor for a period of one year. Acknowledging the need of his own Country, he set up the National AIDS Council in PNG and was the founding Director of the National AIDS Council Secretariat.

Setting up of the National AIDS Council and its Secretariat involved the acknowledgement of the value of sectors other then health in addressing major public health issues such as the HIV pandemic. Clement sees that the determinants shaping a good quality of life of individuals and communities require a collective approach from everyone.

While his current work focuses on HIV/AIDS his experience will enable him to transfer practical skills, develop practical tools for integrated health systems management and contribute to the Burnet Institute’s goal of linking biomedical research to practical interventions in making a difference for the developing world”.

His wide experience in regional and international health managment programs is a plus for PNG. With Dr Clement  Malau now at the helm of PNG health department we hope to see some real improvements in health service delivery in PNG.