Solar-powered oxygen, quality improvement and child pneumonia deaths: a large-scale effectiveness study.

Background: Pneumonia is the largest cause of child deaths in low-income countries. Lack of availability of oxygen in small rural hospitals results in avoidable deaths and unnecessary and unsafe referrals.

Method: We evaluated a programme for improving reliable oxygen therapy using oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters and sustainable solar power in 38 remote health facilities in nine provinces in Papua New Guinea.

Safety, Effectiveness and Feasibility of Outpatient Management of Children with Pneumonia with Chest Indrawing at Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea.

Implementing the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on home-based management of pneumonia with chest indrawing is challenging in many settings. In Papua New Guinea, 120 children presenting with the WHO definition of pneumonia were screened for danger signs, comorbidities and hypoxaemia using pulse oximetry; 117 were appropriate for home care. We taught mothers about danger signs and when to return, using structured teaching materials and a video.

Association between visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid examination and high-risk human papillomavirus infection, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis in Papua New Guinea.

Background: Papua New Guinea (PNG) has among the highest estimated burdens of cervical cancer globally but currently has no national cervical screening program. Visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) is a low-cost screening strategy endorsed by the World Health Organization that has been adopted in many low-resource settings but not previously evaluated in PNG.

Aim: To evaluate the association between VIA examination findings and high-risk HPV (hrHPV) infection; and the impact of concomitant genital Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis on the interpretation of VIA findings.

Performance of syndromic management for the detection and treatment of genital , and among women attending antenatal, well woman and sexual health clinics in Papua New Guinea: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Papua New Guinea (PNG) has among the highest estimated prevalences of genital (CT), (NG) and (TV) of any country in the Asia-Pacific region. Diagnosis and treatment of these infections have relied on the WHO-endorsed syndromic management strategy that uses clinical presentation without laboratory confirmation to make treatment decisions. We evaluated the performance of this strategy in clinical settings in PNG.

Solar powered oxygen systems in remote health centers in Papua New Guinea: a large scale implementation effectiveness trial.

Background: Pneumonia is the largest cause of child deaths in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and hypoxaemia is the major complication causing death in childhood pneumonia, and hypoxaemia is a major factor in deaths from many other common conditions, including bronchiolitis, asthma, sepsis, malaria, trauma, perinatal problems, and obstetric emergencies. A reliable source of oxygen therapy can reduce mortality from pneumonia by up to 35%. However, in low and middle income countries throughout the world, improved oxygen systems have not been implemented at large scale in remote, difficult to access health care settings, and oxygen is often unavailable at smaller rural hospitals or district health centers which serve as the first point of referral for childhood illnesses.

Dorsal longitudinal foreskin cut is associated with reduced risk of HIV, syphilis and genital herpes in men: a cross-sectional study in Papua New Guinea.

Introduction: Various forms of penile foreskin cutting are practised in Papua New Guinea. In the context of an ecological association observed between HIV infection and the dorsal longitudinal foreskin cut, we undertook an investigation of this relationship at the individual level.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among men attending voluntary confidential HIV counselling and testing clinics.

Field Evaluation of Xpert HPV Point-of-Care Test for Detection of Human Papillomavirus Infection by Use of Self-Collected Vaginal and Clinician-Collected Cervical Specimens.

The World Health Organization has recommended that testing for high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) (hrHPV) infection be incorporated into cervical screening programs in all settings worldwide. In many high-burden, low-income countries, it will not be feasible to achieve high cervical screening coverage using hrHPV assays that require clinician-collected samples. We conducted the first evaluation of self-collected vaginal specimens compared with clinician-collected cervical specimens for the detection of hrHPV infection using the Xpert HPV test.

Presence of HIV drug resistance in antiretroviral therapy-naive and -experienced patients from Papua New Guinea.

Objectives: The optimal benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART) can be compromised by the emergence of HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) resulting in treatment failure. ART was introduced in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2004, yet biological data on HIVDR are lacking. The aim of the study was to investigate levels of HIVDR in ART-naive and -experienced patients in PNG.

In search of pigbel: gone or just forgotten in the highlands of Papua New Guinea?

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, pigbel (enteritis necroticans) was the most common cause of death in children over the age of 1 year in hospitals in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). There has been recent widespread perception that after the successful vaccination program in the 1980s the disease virtually disappeared. A new vaccine is now available, but disease burden information is conflicting: despite almost no pigbel being reported from major hospitals there have been many reports of the disease from outlying health centres.

Child adoption in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.

This study investigated the epidemiology of child adoption in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. A prospective case-control study of 100 adopted and 100 control children matched by age and sex was done in 1995. The age at the time of adoption ranged from 7 days to 8 years with 64 being adopted in the neonatal period.