Barriers and enablers experienced by health care workers in swabbing for COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea: A multi-methods cross-sectional study.

Objective: We aimed to identify the barriers and enablers that Health Care Workers (HCWs) in Papua New Guinea experienced in swabbing for COVID-19.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional multi-methods study: a qualitative scoping exercise and a telephone survey. The target population was COVID-19-trained HCWs from all provinces of Papua New Guinea.

Lessons from the first 6 years of an intervention-based field epidemiology training programme in Papua New Guinea, 2013-2018.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces a critical shortage of human resources to address pressing public health challenges arising from an increasing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. PNG is an independent State in the Pacific and home to 8.2 million people.

Spatio-temporal epidemiology of the cholera outbreak in Papua New Guinea, 2009-2011.

Background: Cholera continues to be a devastating disease in many developing countries where inadequate safe water supply and poor sanitation facilitate spread. From July 2009 until late 2011 Papua New Guinea experienced the first outbreak of cholera recorded in the country, resulting in >15,500 cases and >500 deaths.

Methods: Using the national cholera database, we analysed the spatio-temporal distribution and clustering of the Papua New Guinea cholera outbreak.

Event-based surveillance in Papua New Guinea: strengthening an International Health Regulations (2005) core capacity.

Under the International Health Regulations (2005), Member States are required to develop capacity in event-based surveillance (EBS). The Papua New Guinea National Department of Health established an EBS system during the influenza pandemic in August 2009. We review its performance from August 2009 to November 2012, sharing lessons that may be useful to other low-resource public health practitioners working in surveillance.

Mobile phone-based syndromic surveillance system, Papua New Guinea.

The health care system in Papua New Guinea is fragile, and surveillance systems infrequently meet international standards. To strengthen outbreak identification, health authorities piloted a mobile phone-based syndromic surveillance system and used established frameworks to evaluate whether the system was meeting objectives. Stakeholder experience was investigated by using standardized questionnaires and focus groups.

Outbreak of chikungunya virus infection, Vanimo, Papua New Guinea.

In June 2012, health authorities in Papua New Guinea detected an increase in febrile illnesses in Vanimo. Chikungunya virus of the Eastern/Central/Southern African genotype harboring the E1:A226V mutation was identified. This ongoing outbreak has spread to ≥8 other provinces and has had a harmful effect on public health.

Clonal origins of Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor strains, Papua New Guinea, 2009-2011.

We used multilocus sequence typing and variable number tandem repeat analysis to determine the clonal origins of Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor strains from an outbreak of cholera that began in 2009 in Papua New Guinea. The epidemic is ongoing, and transmission risk is elevated within the Pacific region.