About AHS
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Health Information
- Life expectancy in PNG is 54.6 for males and 53.5 for females. That is twenty five years younger than most "Western" countries and twenty years younger than most of our Pacific neighbours.
- Infant mortality rate deteriorated from 72 per 1000 live births in 1980 to 77 per 1000 in 1996.
- Overall, 1 in 8 children die before reaching their 5th birthday.
- 45% of children are malnourished and 65% not fully immunised.
- 69% of women deliver their babies unsupervised.
- In rural areas there are 20 maternal deaths per 1000 births.
- The population growth is 2.3% per annum, thus the urban population will double and the rural population triple every 30 years.
- The high infant mortality is exacerbated by the fact that 25% of pregnancies occur within 2 years of the mother previously giving birth. (Infant mortality is 3 times higher when there is less than 2 years between births).
The Government National Health Plan 2001-2010 states:-
While Papua New Guinea has been acknowledged by the World Health Organisation as having one of the best health service networks in the region, its network of aid posts, health centres, rural hospitals and general hospitals has not performed as well as expected. Contributing factors include poor funding and staff levels, inefficient management, poor role definition and lack of community support.
For the key programmes, the churches provide 45% of total health services and 49% of rural health services.
- Of the country's rural health facilities.....
- 46% have no transport
- 41% no radio, and
- 60% require major maintenance.
- Of the aid posts 22% are currently closed (and this figure may be an underestimate).
- Less than 30% of rural communities have safe water supply.
The main causes of recorded disease and/or death are:-
- (Childbirth, Pneumonia and Malaria) The first 3 categories account for 40% of all recorded deaths.
- Other respiratory conditions, particularly Tuberculosis
Although the following conditions account for very few admissions and deaths, they represent a very high proportion of the outpatients seen.
- Accidents and Violence
- Skin sores and ulcers
- Meningitis
- Typhoid, Diarrhoea and other intestinal conditions
- Anaemia, cardiac conditions and Cancer
- At the end of 2000 there were 3,428 confirmed cases of HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus) infection, 1153 confirmed cases of AIDS (Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and 242 patients had died from the disease in PNG.
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