Paula DAVID

The government has announced it will commence the construction of a 395 bed provincial hospital for the Central Province with an allocation of K50 million from the K258 million Provincial Health Authority Investment. The Minister for Finance and Planning Rainbo Paita said this when the 2023 Budget was drawn down at parliament yesterday afternoon. He said it is the first budget for the 11th parliament and is the largest budget in PNG’s history at K24.5 billion. Minister Paita said, boosting investments in the health and education sectors equates to a more productive society and a growing economy. “The health sector receives a total funding expenditure budget of K1.7 billion and a capital investment of K661.7 miillion, aimed to deliver quality health services and improve health infrastructure at all levels, says Paita.” The other priority investments in the Health sector includes: • PNG Medical University-K50million • National Specialist Hospital-K10million • Improving National health Systems and Capacities-K170.9million and • Addressing other major infectious diseases (Malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19)-K56.2 million He stressed that they are stepping up momentum in addressing the health needs of our rural people. And the government is committing K100 million to the development of provincial hospitals and K70 million to upgrading District Hospitals to a level-4 standard, said Paita.

The JICA Chair program on Japanese Modernization administered at the University of Papua New Guinea, for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding between JICA and UPNG on Wednesday this week. UPNG Vice-Chancellor Professor Frank Griffin said, the program was on and off but with the official signing of the MoU at the UPNG Council room between UPNG and JICA they will now be consistent and ensure activities are delivered. “With this formalization process this allows us to engage in a more active way to assist one another’s interest in making sure that what is contained in the activities that need to be drawn up are blessed by this document.” “We are very delighted to be part of this formalization process because it now gives all the schools within the University the opportunity to look at their own capacity building processes through this modernization course.” Professor Griffin said that this also allows a joint collaboration between the two parties in terms of academic work, research and people-to-people contact that may take place across the two countries. "There are a lot of MoU’s that people sign but are not management properly and nothing happens. But for us here at UPNG, we want this to be an active MoU so that we meet our targets to deliver the courses to the students and the students gain from it." He also mentioned that wherever the University of Papua New Guinea operates, the JICA Chair program will also be applied there. Meanwhile, Chief Representative, JICA PNG office Mr. Masato Koinuma said, approximately 150 students have completed the short seven intensive video lectures delivered at the school. “In the short term, I hope students will learn about the experience of Japan, and in the long term, hope they will contribute to nation-building of PNG in various ways.” He added that, this MOU is a symbol of friendship between PNG and Japan. “We hope this can promote educational cooperation and better cultural understanding between us as we pursue further our common interest further.”

The Papua New Guinean University of Technology’s (PNGUOT) Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Association hosted a mental health awareness program last week. Mental health is very important as it includes one's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how one thinks, feel, and act. It also helps determine how they handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through to adulthood Director of Society of Women Engineer Association Ms. Philomena Fowler said since the establishment of the association last year, they have been carrying out mental health awareness programs in the school but then realized that their awareness services were much needed outside in the communities. She also added that completing high school and secondary school education and moving into the tertiary level can be quite a handful and put mental pressure on the young people. “One of the first lesson for students to learn is “Self-Discipline.” There will be a lot of distractions along the way like peer-pressure, entertainment, school work and family, but students must try their best to maintain self-discipline and always remember where you come from.” Fowler said these are challenging times which contribute to one’s mental health, but all should stay focused. Meanwhile, Ms. Fowler said for those students who don’t make it into any tertiary institutions, they must not give up because there’s always a way. “There’s a lot out there and students must not give up because there’s always another way. And always maintain your mental health because it is important. As you continue to go higher into the level of your education it becomes more stressful," said Fowler.

Over 200 midwives across the country kicked off the PNG Midwifery Society 4th national symposium that will run for 3days with the theme: “Impact of Covid-19 on maternal New-born and Child Health.” The future of this country depends on good healthy people and that all comes down to our health system and health workers as human resource is the most important resource of any country. PNG Midwifery Society Interim President Sr. Mary Sitaing said the sole purpose of this symposium is to bring together midwifes to equip them with the growing knowledge and skills to tackle the number of maternal mortality rates in the country. “I think we’ve done really well. In the last few years our maternal mortality rate was 733 per hundred thousand but it has gone down. And that shows that there's a lot of work being put in to midwifery schools to develop and up skill our midwives in the country.” Sr. Sitaing said, even though this number has gone down for the country, our maternal mortality rate in the country is still high compared to other Pacific nations. Officially opening the symposium, Health Minister Dr. Lino Tom said, PNG has one of the worst statistics in the Western Pacific region. "In terms of the maternal mortality rate, we have about 171 per hundred thousand, 20 deaths per thousand and 40% of supervised deliveries which is quite low." He also stated that, family planning will be one of his major priorities in his 100-day plan, saying that the population growth has outgrown the country’s ability to provide for its people. He says unless and until the country has some major economic activity happening, the population growth rate must be cut down. “The law and order situations and social issues we have is because the bulk of the youth are restoring to bizarre ways of actually expressing themselves because we cannot engage them anymore." "There are not enough institutions to cater for the young people. We have not created enough jobs." Other priorities in Dr Tom’s 100-day plan includes looking at increasing the health workforce, improving health workers' working conditions, strengthening the systems of governance in the health system and the drugs and medical supply issue. And with this world moving forward into the Tech World, Dr. Tom wants a digitalized health system so that people will know who is holding what positions to address the issue of people not working but still being paid, especially those holding positions in the rural areas but spending more time in urban areas rather than working.

Ahead of their Women’s Rugby League World Cup match against Australia, the PNG Santos Orchids Captain Elsie Albert said the girls are reallly excited and nervous at the same time, as this would be their first ever semi-final world cup match on Tuesday 15th at 3am PNG time, in York. “We’re pretty much excited because were going up against Australia in the semi-finals, says Albert.” As one of the NRLW based players, Elsie has encouraged her team mates to stay focus as they approach their semi-final match against Australia’s Jillaroos during one off their training sessions. “The best thing I’d say to them is that the pressure is on the Aussie side because they’re the world champs and going into the semis, everyone is expecting us to loose, so going in as the ‘Under Dogs’, we just have to get in there and play the best we can and keep our heads up, says Albert.” Santos PNG Orchids Center Belinda Gwasamun said, this is a very big achievement for the PNG ladies compared to the last world cup where the team did not win any of their games and we are happy to have won 2 of our matches and are now into the semis. Gwasamun said, one of the things she learnt from their match against England was communication on field. “We need to communicate properly especially when the game is brought back on our defense line, other than that, I am really excited because we have come this far, says Gwasamun” Gwasamun also thanked PNG as a whole for the support. “Because of your support, we have made it this far. Even though we lost our last game, we can still feel the energy and support from miles away and we are very happy for that”.

The 2022 Paws Walk hosted by RSPCA is an annual event staged to bring together Dog Lovers and many participants especially families, for a walk around Ela Beach to raise funds for their educational awareness programs and the sheltered animals they have at the RSPCA pound and clinic. RSPCA’s Administration Manager Karen Swale said the walk started at 7am Saturday morning and all though there were not many participants as expected there was still a good turn out and the walk still pushed through. Swale said, due to COVID, they have put a pause to their events especially the annual end-of-year Dog Show. “We were hoping to combine the annual Dog Show event with the Paws Walk but due to limited participants, we only had the Paws Walk”. The RSPCA has postponed all their annual events due to COVID and other reasons but are hoping for bigger and better show next year. She is also appealing to the general public to participate in their annual events by registering with them because all funds raised are for a worthy cause. “All who participate in our events that we host, it all goes to our educational program that we do in-and –around Port Moresby three times a week for the entire school year and the adoption and shelter of our animals. She added that the more participants they have, the better for the community.

The 2022 Eastern Papua Cup (EPC) kicked off its annual tournament with games and a reconciliation and peace ceremony for the fight that happened on Kiriwina Island and to also respect the fallen members of EPC Association over the last 2 years. EPC President Dr. Linus Digim’rina said that the initial kick-off for the senior men’s & women’s games started off yesterday, 12th Saturday November, with a total of 39 teams registered. The tournament will run for 5weeks at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) oval. “We have registered 39 teams from the 16 clubs already, but I won’t be surprised if we end up with 40 or 41 teams by the end of this weekend or next weekend because one or two are still rolling in.” Dr. Digim’rina said the UPNG Administration, allowed them to book the field for 5 weekends of their games. He said with two years of postponed games due to COVID, they are excited and feeling anxious for this year’s tournament. “We are excited because when we put out the notice for the EPC games to be hosted this year, we saw a lot of excitement going around on social media. We were anxious because of the payment deadlines we set up, but so far there was a good turn out and we’re excited for this.” Dr. Digim’rina also mentioned that as part of their reconciliation and peace ceremony, they are raising funds as a contribution towards the people who suffered from the fight that happened back on the island to support them in areas like health and food supply. “Anyone who sets up a market-stall pays a fee of K50 per day, which goes toward the fundraising drive for the people back home. We are also appealing to anyone who is interested to donate and be part of this drive to help assist our people who have suffered from this unfortunate incident back home. ”

Joining over 120, 000 grade 8 students nationwide from 3, 433 primary schools, the students from the Coronation primary school in the nation’s capital sat their first paper today to kick off the examination week. Unlike the grade 10-12’s exams which ran for a week, the grade 8 national examinations will be on for only 4 days form the 24th-27th of October. [caption id="attachment_28950" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Coronation Primary Head Teacher Mr. Tavera Seka.[/caption] Coronation Primary Head Teacher Mr. Tavera Seka said, they have a total of 425 students sitting for the exams. “The students sat for their written expression paper this morning, tomorrow will be Math, Wednesday will be English and they will complete the week off with the combined subjects on Thursday, said Seka.” Meanwhile, the grade 8 students are the only ones in school this week. [caption id="attachment_28951" align="alignnone" width="906"] Grade 8 students of Coronation Primary School during the exams this morning.[/caption] The rest of the grades from elementary to grade 7 have been given the week off so no to cause any disturbances to the final years sitting for their final examination this week.

PNG Kumuls got off to a good start with skipper Rhyse Martin stamping his leadership mark when he entered the Tongan try line to launch the first World Cup try for his side in their first match against Mate Ma’a Tonga this morning at St Helen’s Wicked Stadium. In front of 10, 409 fans, the Kumuls delivered to expectation despite having a few missed opportunities that could have earned them their first win of the series. PNG never gave up the fight in trying to match a fast- paced Tongan outfit to level the scores in the 67th minute, but a final try from the Tongans broke the hearts of the players and fans around the world to close the score board at 24-18. Despite bitter emotions of losing to a fellow Pacific Island nation among players and fans after a controversial call by the match referee that denied winger Roderick Tai's try after several replays from the bunker, the boys gave it their best performance. PNG hooker Edwin Ipape scored the player of the match award despite the heartbreaking outcome of the opening match of Group D. The Kumuls will take on Cook Islands next Wednesday 26th October 2022 at 5:30am, Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington.

There is a likelihood that HIV/AIDS statistics in the country will soar in the following year. The National Aids Council Secretariat-Acting Director Mr. Tony Lupiwa said despite the lack of available statistics on the new cases of HIV/AIDs after the national general elections, they are expecting to see an increase by 2023. PNG has recorded increases in new cases of the deadly virus in the past election years and this year's election is no exception. “This because the virus takes up to 6 months to start inhabiting the body and begin destroying it. By then, people will be visiting clinics and other testing centres to get tested hence we will start collecting the numbers," said Mr. Lupiwa. The Secretariat reports that behavioral patterns among the general public during elections are unstable due to the unsafe election practices voters are involved in especially around huge gatherings at campaigns, rallies, and other election-related activities. Lupiwa said the secretariat can do as much as they can but with financial limitations, they are working within their budget allocations. He said they were only able to carry out awareness in the Highlands region, Madang & Morobe Province. “We are expecting to see an increase of cases from other provinces by next year, said Mr. Lupiwa.” On average, a total of ten infections are recorded per day along with two deaths per day.

The 3rd EU-PNG Trade & Investment Conference kicked off its two-day conference at the APEC Haus yesterday attracting a good number of SME’s who gathered to showcase and market their products. Caltep Holdings Limited, a family-owned business from the Western Highlands Province showed off their locally made 100% organic “Grow Hariap Fertilizer.” Sales and Distribution Team Leader Judy Tep said, it took her father more than 10 years to come up with the final product which is now locally manufactured and distributed to all Brian Bell Home Center outlets in PNG. “There were a lot of trial & errors and when the Pacific Adventist University’s Farm got us on board to do testing on their farm, it was a success. From then on, we went commercial and are currently distributing our products to all Brian Bell outlets throughout the country”. This is the first locally owned and 100% organic fertilizer produced in the country. Tep said the locally made fertilizer can be used on cash crops, flowers and veggies with no side effects. The fertilizer itself is non-toxic and is not harmful to both plants and humans when used. It is made from known highly nutritive traditional plants found in PNG and culturally used by Papua New Guineans in the past which are now packed into liquid fertilizer form ready for plants to feed on directly. “Plants directly absorb the fertilizer through their leaves and roots for quick action and has a dual action mode which makes the plants grow faster and produces high yields.” The fertilizer also improves the soil health by increasing soil micro-organism activity, and basically puts micro-nutrients back into the soil & increases soil fertility for plants to grow successfully. “This allows continued use of limited land and sustains plant growth and production,” said Tep. As a local SME, they are happy and grateful to Brian Bell for taking them on board and supporting them to distribute their products. They have big plans ahead are looking forward to expand on their product and maybe export someday, but for now, they are taking one-step at a time. “I’d like to thank the European Union for this exposure and providing a venue for us to market our SME’s and hopefully pick up some good contacts here and build on from there,” said Tep.

Though there has been a lot of disruptions throughout this academic year, especially to do with the National General Elections, Butuka Academy is prepared for the national examinations. Butuka Academy- Secondary Principal Jean Ifuda said, Butuka has a total of 573 students who will sit for the national examinations starting next week. “Out of the 573 students, there are 229 Grade 10 students who will kick-start the examination week followed by 175 Grade 12 students and 169 Grade 8 students, said Ifuda.” Even though the students have returned back from their one-week break, they have been given a lot of support materials to do over the holidays and now that they have returned, they’ve had a lot of follow-ups from their subject teachers as well. “Given that, we are very confident that our students are prepared and will do very well.” Meanwhile, Principal for the primary school-Butuka Academy Mr Dennis Iauve wished all their students the very best and to give their 100% best during the exams.