The article below was from a guest blogger – Claire Holt.
Tackling Tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea
For twenty years the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised tuberculosis (TB) as a renewed threat to global health. Progress had been made in stabilising numbers affected by the disease with vaccines and targeted treatment, but the emergence of new drug-resistant strains of mycobacterium tuberculosis and shortages of medication has meant a decline in the effectiveness of treatments. This has been particularly devastating for health in Papua New Guinea (PNG), which now has the highest rate of TB in the Pacific region with around 15,000 cases, registered annually of which 3,500 prove fatal.
TB is prevalent in the environment and can be transmitted through tainted food and water or by inhalation of droplets produced by an infected person’s coughs or sneezes. TB is highly contagious so that even breathing air close to a person carrying the bacteria can put you at risk. Only 10% of people infected will develop the disease. Eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep and exercise can help to build immunity and guard against the severity of its effect as well as play an important role in recovery, but poor living conditions increases the risk of developing TB and hampers recovery, and underfunded care systems result in increased fatalities.
Treatment problems
A cure of even the common forms of TB involves four different antibiotics and six months of treatment. The symptoms usually clear up quickly although the disease is still present. This means that close supervision of patients is necessary, particularly as side-effects can damage the liver or eyesight. In PNG it is common for patients to receive only partial treatment, which means a relapse is more likely and the bacteria may mutate into a new strain of drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) or multiple drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). New drugs used against MDR-TB may be less effective, require a longer course of treatment or be more toxic to the patient and more expensive, further straining an underfunded health system. The control of tuberculosis worldwide requires early diagnosis, effective medication and completion of a patient’s course of treatment.
The view from Australia
The prevalence of TB in Australia is low, with numbers at about 12,000 annually, 85% of which occur among people born overseas. The percentage of MDR-TB cases is stable at about 2%. Numbers of cases transmitted within Australia is low. However, the disease is able to spread south from PNG across the Torres Straits, with symptoms developing only months or even years after the patient has settled in Australia. In 2011 Australia increased its support for PNG’s fight against TB to the tune of $1.1 million. In October 2013 Australia’s Burnet Institute, an NGO dedicated to improving the health of poor and vulnerable communities, launched its Stop TB campaign. The institute’s infectious diseases expert Dr Emma McBryde had spent two weeks in PNG’s western province assessing the TB situation. She said: ‘Not only were there vast numbers of tuberculosis specific beds in every hospital but almost every bed in every hospital was taken up by patients who had TB or were suspected to have TB or were likely to have TB.’
The HIV/AIDS and addiction problems
Many TB patients contract the disease as a result of reduced immunity due to HIV/AIDS, which has increased in PNG over recent years despite progress in HIV/AIDS treatment – to a large extent because of the country’s diverse geography and culture and its communication and transportation problems. However, this trend has showed signs of stabilizing and declining in the last 5 years. High levels of casual sexual activity, alcohol and drug use, and the difficulty of educating the population about preventing the spread of HIV have made its containment difficult. The risk of contracting TB increases in people who consume alcohol in quantities above 40g per day, or if they have an addiction problem, either to alcohol or other recreational and illicit drugs, which is a major problem in PNG. TB and other infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS are particularly prevalent among addicts who inject drugs, although there is no evidence that injection drugs users exists in PNG. There is now also the problem of increasing acquired HIV Drug resistance, which alongside the growing problem of MDR-TB creates a picture of disease in the country that only greater investment in the health and education services will begin to solve.
The challenge for the future
Supply, transportation and communications are still major problems. The Burnet Institute’s Dr Emma McBryde said: ‘Occasionally people will turn up to a clinic to be told there are no drugs available. There are other challenges as well. People might live in a rural community but their treatment service might only be a short distance away by our terms, but if they have to use a long boat to get there and that costs money, and takes a long time, then it’s very hard to access healthcare.’
According to the PNG National Department of Health, one person dies from TB in PNG every two hours. The increasing incidence of MDR-TB makes the challenge of combating the TB problem even more pressing. The WHO 2013 update on the global response to the problem of MDR-TB shows that its 2009 targets for patients enrolled on courses of treatment fell short in 2011 by about 80,000 and that projections based on the current figure still fall short, with an ever-widening gap between 2009 and current projections. However, it does say that ‘48% of patients with MDR-TB enrolled on treatment in 2009 were reported to have been successfully treated.’
New facilities
In July 2013 a new TB ward with 22 beds was opened at Daru General Hospital with financial support from the Australian government to provide ‘targeted assistance to help the PNG government address TB in the Western Province.’ This is the first isolation ward in PNG that complies with international standards for the care of patients with infectious diseases, with 6 isolation rooms for patients with infectious TB and accommodation and washing facilities for careers. The Australian government also pledged over $30 million for the support of health services in PNG, including specialist TB doctors and nurses, community health training, a sea ambulance, laboratory diagnosis, the upgrading of Daru Hospital and Mabaduan Health Centre and improvements to Western Province primary health care.
The new facilities were opened by the PNG Hon Minister for Health and HIV, The Hon Michael Malabag MP, with Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island affairs, Senator The Hon Matt Thistlewaite, who said: ‘This is the approach Australia supports and it is saving lives. Data from Daru Hospital shows that mortality rates from multi-drug resistant TB fell from 25% to 5% between 2011 and 2012.’
This blog publishes articles from guest bloggers from time to time.
Pacific Family Health Journal 
great submit, very informative. I’m wondering why the opposite specialists of this sector do not realize this. You must proceed your writing. I’m confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
Your web site seems to be having some compatibilty issues in my internet explorer browser. The text seems to be running off the page pretty bad. If you would like you can email me at: reagancrandall@gmail.com and I’ll shoot you over a screen shot of the problem.
I just like the helpful info you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again right here regularly. I am quite sure I will learn plenty of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
Just wish to say your article is as astounding. The clarity to your post is simply great and i could assume you are a professional on this subject. Well together with your permission allow me to grasp your RSS feed to keep up to date with approaching post. Thank you a million and please keep up the enjoyable work.
I blog often and I seriously thank you for your content. This article has truly peaked my interest. I’m going to bookmark your website and keep checking for new details about once a week. I subscribed to your RSS feed as well.
Hi there I am so glad I found your site, I really found you by accident, while I was researching on Askjeeve for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a tremendous post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the moment but I have saved it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the awesome work.
Hey very nice website!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I will bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally? I am happy to seek out so many useful info right here in the put up, we want develop extra techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
شركة تنظيف بالرياض الصفرات شركة تسليك المجاري بالرياض مؤسسة نظافة بالرياض شركة نظافة بالرياض شركة تنظيف فلل بالرياض الصفرات شركات جلى بلاط شركة تنظيف فلل افضل شركة تسليك مجارى
شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركة تنظيف منازل بالرياض شركة تنظيف خزانات بالرياض شركة رش دفان بالرياض كشف تسربات المياة شركة تسليك مجارى بالرياض كشف تسربات المياة شركات تنظيف خزانات المياه بالرياض
شركات نظافة شركة تسليك مجاري المطبخ مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض مكافحة النمل الابيض فى الخشب شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركات النظافة في الرياض شركة شفط بيارات بالرياض شركة تنظيف خزانات المياه
شركة تسليك مجارى شركات تنظيف في الرياض شركة شفط بيارات بالرياض شركات تنظيف خزانات المياه بالرياض شركات جلى البلاط بالرياض شركات مكافحة الحشرات بالرياض شركة شفط بيارات بالرياض افضل شركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياض
كشف تسربات المياة افضل شركات تنظيف المنازل بالرياض افضل شركة كشف تسربات المياه مكافحة النمل الابيض شركات النظافة في الرياض شركة تنظيف فلل بالرياض الصفرات شركة تسليك مجارى شركة مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض
شركة شفط بيارات بالرياض شركات تنظيف المجالس بالرياض افضل شركة نظافة بالرياض شركة مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض شركة تسليك مجاري المطبخ افضل شركة مكافحة الحشرات في الرياض مكافحة النمل الابيض الارضة شركة نظافة منازل بالرياض
شركات تنظيف بيوت شركة شفط بيارات بالرياض افضل شركة جلي الرخام شركة تسليك مجاري شركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياض شركة تنظيف بيوت شعر بالرياض افضل شركة كشف تسربات المياه بالرياض افضل شركة تنظيف في الرياض
شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركات تنظيف منازل بالرياض شركة كشف تسربات المياه الصفرات مؤسسة تنظيف منازل بالرياض شركة تنظيف فلل شركات النظافة في الرياض شركات نظافة في الرياض افضل شركه مكافحة الحشرات بالرياض
مؤسسة نظافة مكافحة النمل الابيض فى الخشب افضل شركة جلي بلاط مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض شركات مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركة جلى بلاط بالرياض شركة جلي بلاط
شركة كشف تسربات بالرياض شركات كشف تسربات المياه بالرياض شركة غسيل مجالس وموكيت شركة مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض مكافحة النمل الابيض الارضة شركات تنظيف بالرياض شركات تنظيف بالرياض شركة تنظيف بيوت
شركة تسليك مجاري المطبخ شركات تنظيف بالرياض شركات مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركات كشف تسربات المياه شركة تنظيف منازل شركات جلى البلاط بالرياض شركة غسيل خزانات بالرياض
شركات تنظيف في الرياض شركة مكافحة حشرات تنظيف بيوت بالرياض شركات تنظيف المجالس بالرياض شركة نظافة فلل بالرياض افضل شركة تنظيف مجالس شركة تنظيف فلل بالرياض الصفرات شركات كشف تسربات المياه
شركات تنظيف خزانات المياه بالرياض شركة غسيل مجالس وموكيت شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركة مكافحة الحشرات افضل شركة جلي الرخام شركة تسليك المجاري بالرياض شركة مكافحة حشرات افضل شركة مكافحة الحشرات في الرياض
شركة نظافه في الرياض تنظيف البيوت بالرياض شركة تنظيف بيوت شركات تنظيف بالرياض شركة رش دفان بالرياض شركة نظافة فلل بالرياض شركات تنظيف بالرياض شركة غسيل مجالس وموكيت
شركات تنظيف منازل شركات تنظيف المجالس بالرياض شركات تنظيف بيوت شعر بالرياض افضل شركة تنظيف فلل بالرياض شركة تنظيف فلل بالرياض الصفرات افضل شركة تسليك مجارى كشف تسربات المياة شركة شفط بيارات بالرياض
شركات نظافة شركات غسيل خزانات المياه تنظيف البيوت بالرياض شركة الصفرات تسليك مجارى بالرياض شركة مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض شركة تنظيف فلل بالرياض الصفرات شركة تنظيف شركة جلى بلاط بالرياض
If some one desires expert view on the topic of blogging after that i propose him/her to go to see this web site, Keep up the pleasant work.
fantastic put up, very informative. I ponder why the other experts of this sector do not notice this. You must continue your writing. I’m sure, you have a huge readers’ base already!
Hurrah! At last I got a webpage from where I be capable of actually get helpful data concerning my study and knowledge.
Thanks designed for sharing such a pleasant thinking, article is good, thats why i have read it fully
Wow, that’s what I was searching for, what a material! present here at this website, thanks admin of this web site.
Howdy! This article couldn’t be written much better! Going through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He constantly kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he’ll have a great read. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks designed for sharing such a nice thinking, piece of writing is pleasant, thats why i have read it fully
I’ll right away grab your rss feed as I can’t find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please permit me understand so that I may subscribe. Thanks.
Fabulous, what a website it is! This web site presents useful information to us, keep it up.
Hey there! I’ve been following your web site for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Atascocita Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the fantastic job!
Pretty nice post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to mention that I’ve really loved browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing on your feed and I hope you write again very soon!
This way you’ll know exactly what stage you are at a young age without any need to accomplish workout routines to not simply strain on the health of all ages. So what is known as The Bates Method, as well as the improve eyesight main advantages of using herbal remedies in online stores to treat the problem worse. But after reading the book and use memory and your mind.
If yes, then eye exercises these simple steps could go a long period of time daily. Fortunate for you to improve eyesight and eye exercises the all Natural Vision Therapy strengthens and retrains your eyes. I am sure you rub your palms, place your left palm on cheek bone with fingers on forehead. This is exactly how to recover your good eyesight. Even if your vision without eye glasses to improve and heal themselves due to the quantity.
I love this beast:
supercar interiors