Around 20 women and girls in Western Province have been given dignity kits from UNFPA ahead of a vigil at Good Samaritan Care Centre in Kiunga. Each kit contains essential hygiene items including soap, toiletries, and pads, in additional to a towel, slippers, and solar light. These supplies were a welcome gift for these women and are just some of the hundreds of kits provided by UNFPA to women across the country, including new mothers and asylum seekers in Western Province and displaced persons in Hela. The women gathered, together with other men and children, to commemorate those in their community who had lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. This annual vigil is an opportunity to remember those they have lost and to reconnect with those who share their experience. During the COVID pandemic, UNAIDS Papua New Guinea has been working to ensure a regular supply of essential medicines for persons living with HIV across the country. In Kiunga, some people travel over 100kms to collect a three-month supply of medication from the sisters at Good Samaritan. Provisions of essential supplies, like those provided by UNFPA, are valuable in demonstrating to these often-ostracized communities that the UN is committed to leaving no one behind during the COVID pandemic. Local staff from IOM has been assisting the distribution of kits in Western Province as UNFPA and IOM continue to support strengthened water, sanitation and health projects in North Fly District as part of the COVID-19 Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

On Friday, I received my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. It is incredible to think that in a little over a year since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, a vaccine has been developed and is being administered here in Papua New Guinea (PNG).   Of course, I am in Port Moresby and am receiving my vaccine at a private hospital. Ensuring vaccines are available to communities around the country will be the true test.   Reaching remote communities  I have been fortunate during my time in PNG to be able to travel to some of the planet’s most unique and vulnerable landscapes. When I travel, I am constantly reminded of just how remote some communities in PNG truly are.   North Fly is an area in PNG’s Western Province, bordering Indonesia. The area was one of the first to report cases of COVID and now has one of the highest counts of COVID-19 cases in the country. It is also home to some of the most difficult-to-reach communities in the region and hosts asylum seekers. Some riverside communities are entirely inaccessible during the dry season.   At the start of the pandemic, I visited Rumginae Hospital, a referral hospital about an hour’s drive from the region’s major town of Kiunga, to speak with Dr Kevin Pondikou – the hospital’s only doctor – and his staff. Dr Kevin showed us the storerooms which were running low on personal protective equipment (PPE). A new diagnostic machine was sitting in a box because travel restrictions meant the technician had not been able to travel to install it.  A few weeks after this visit, colleagues from UNFPA returned to Rumginae. A young woman came in suffering from shock. She had delivered a baby three weeks earlier in her village without a midwife or any medical support. Bleeding heavily, she and her mother walked for close to one day to reach the aid post at Mougolou, from where she was airlifted to Kiunga and then brought to Rumginae where she received a blood transfusion.   Healthcare providers like the team at Rumginae were stretching their resources to treat patients even before a surge in cases in February 2021. Preventing severe complications from COVID is vital to keeping this hospital open.    Vaccine Equity  We have received 132,000 vaccines through the COVAX Facility. Despite the incredible achievement in bringing a vaccine to so many developing countries within such a short time, this shipment arrived too late for the 91 people, including one of our colleagues, who had died from COVID-19 in PNG up until mid-April. [see the Papua New Guinea COVID-19 country dashboard for the latest figures and updates]  Additionally, that shipment contained less than half of the 288,000 vaccines that PNG was originally assigned. We need to push for better distribution of vaccines to the most vulnerable. And that doesn’t end with a photo op at Port Moresby’s Jacksons Airport. It ends when every person in this half island nation of 7.4 million has been given the choice to get the vaccine. Focusing on opportunities  Reaching communities like Rumginae is of course a major challenge, but an achievable one. In 2018, WHO and UNICEF vaccinated 3.1 million children against polio within only a few months of an outbreak being announced. The challenge we have on our hands with COVID is that the virus and the vaccine are new, leading to significant skepticism and vaccine hesitancy. As more young people are connected to the internet, vaccine conspiracy spreads like wildfire. Rumors reach these communities before we can.  However, to focus on the scale of this challenge ignores the opportunities. The public health information we share now – on how a virus is spread and on how vaccines work – sets us and the local health system on a better platform to combat future pandemics. We are building a vocabulary that will help us tackle existing challenges like TB and HIV/AIDS.  Passing the test  Funding to the COVID response has enabled IOM and UNICEF to build water facilities in North Fly, and to support the districts most vulnerable.   We have also demonstrated, at the regional and global level, that PNG has friends all over the world who are ready and willing step up to support. Development partners and the private sector have donated tonnes of PPE, testing kits and lab consumables, medical devices and personnel, and vaccines.   This pandemic is testing our capacity for cooperation and I believe it is a test we will pass.  

UN support to the COVID-19 response in Papua New Guinea has been led by WHO and UNICEF, who are assisting the PNG Government in emergency and humanitarian coordination, clinical management and procurement, risk communications and community engagement, protection and secondary impacts, and socio-economic impact and recovery. In 2021 we will be welcoming the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines and work with our partners to set a path for recovery, including socio-economic assessments and support to the hardest hit populations. The weekly COVID-19 National situation report, jointly published by NDOH and WHO, details the scope of the pandemic in PNG and the national response effort. More information on UN assistance provided in 2020 is available at papuanewguinea.un.org. Here is a look at what we've been doing around the country in March. Kiunga, Western Province IOM Installs Handwash Stations at Kiunga Airport, Improves Toilet Facilities in Western Province IOM completed a comprehensive rehabilitation of the toilet facilities at Kiunga Airport, creating a safer environment for travelers. The team installed a handwash station on entry. The team installed latrines in several locations including schools, health facilities and local communities, benefitting at least 8,949 people. Installations of solar panels and accessories across several communities has improved lighting of common areas around latrines. This additional light improves the safety especially of women and girls when accessing the facilities at night. IOM estimates this initiative will improve the safety of over 30,000 people in Western Province. UNFPA Delivers PPE to Kiunga Hospital, Customised Dignity Kits With the given surge of covid 19 cases, UNFPA supplied various essential PPE to Kiunga Hospital, Western Province and Port Moresby General Hospital. These include 500 reusable face shields, 500 long sleeve gowns, 15,000 examination gloves, 2000 surgical gloves, 30,000 disposal facemask, 300 protective goggles and 44 thermometers. UNFPA locally procured 600 customised Dignity Kits enroute to Kiunga, Western Province. IOM Provides WASH Supplies to Communities and Defence Personnel in Western Province   IOM distributed soap and water containers to 1,203 people in Western Province, with additional wheelie bins (25), dust bins (14), hand gloves (24) and rubber boots (24). The team supplied collapsible water containers, tents and sleeping bags to the PNG Defence Force Forward Operating Base in Kiunga that is responsible for monitoring points of entry along PNG’s Western Border.   Tari, Hela Province UNFPA Supports Emergency Response, Provides PPE and Dignity Kits UNFPA procured and distributed 400  Dignity Kits to displaced women and girls that were affected by the inter-clan violence in Tari Pori District. UNFPA procured 800 PPE to support the participants of a Gender Based Violence in Emergency training and staff at Tari Hospital. Through the emergency response projects, UNFPA, in partnership with PNG Family Health Association and Hela Provincial Health Authority, established sexual and reproductive health mobile clinics at four sites  in Tari, Hela Province to support and provide services to internally displaced women and girls as well as the host community who cannot access the main hospital freely due to ongoing insecurity. Currently the team is conducting training on Minimum Initial Service Package in Tari to 9 males and 8 females  with plans to conduct Clinical Management of Rape Training in April. Providing PPE ensures these essential services can remain open and operate safely. “On a daily basis, we check if the IDP [Internally Displaced People] have any sexually transmitted diseases (STIs), rape cases, pregnant mothers or injuries," sais Sister Mae Lohis, team leader of one of PNG Family Health Association's mobile clinics in Tari. "We are providing the necessary care that they should receive during this time of crisis, including awareness raising on safe sex, family planning, and teenage pregnancies.” Support to People Living with HIV UNAIDS works with COVID19-HIV Crisis Group on Support to PLHIV Together with the COVID19-HIV Crisis Group, including WHO, NDoH, World Vision, USAID, and FHI360, UNAIDS is ensuring services for PLHIV continue to operate during the growing COVID-19 pandemic. The team is also working on messaging surrounding the vaccine for PLHIV and key populations. With high level of COVID 19 vaccine hesitancy and misconceptions among PLHIV and key populations, UNAIDS have developed a short vaccine acceptability survey deployed by the KP consortium in late March. From the results, the current FAQs will be revised and targeted for this population. Support to Emergency Services UNDP Procures Additional Ambulances, Delivers Training to Frontline Medics UNDP is partnering with the national ambulance service, St John’s Ambulance, to upgrade of a number of ambulances across the country with support from the Government of India. Progress the procurement of new ambulances which will be greatly strengthen the capacity of Papua New Guinea’s health system to respond to COVID’s impacts. A funding agreement with UNDP has also supported training of frontline medics and the procurement of additional medical equipment to support an expansion of services. This will also contribute to broader strengthening of the health system. UN agencies have secured funding from Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, United States and the World Bank. Additional support was provided through the UN Secretary General’s Multi-Partner Trust Fund for COVID-19 which ensures UN activities can reach the most at-risk populations during this pandemic. The UN is also engaging with donors to re-programme funding where relevant.