Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1-2
pubmed:dateCreated
2001-6-15
pubmed:abstractText
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is at a crossroads in child health care. We know how to treat or prevent most of the diseases causing child and maternal mortality, but we are failing to deliver the services to where most of the people are dying. There is much to be learnt from early achievements in the development of health services in PNG. Between the 1950s and 1970s the infant mortality rate fell from 250-500 per 1000 livebirths to 77-100 per 1000 livebirths. This occurred predominantly because of an emphasis on public health programs and cost-effective standard treatment. Now the public health services have deteriorated, vaccine coverage is poor and health workers are not fully using the standard treatment resources available to them. The greatest academic and practical challenges facing medicine in PNG are to implement effective and consistent delivery of vaccines, and nutritional, basic curative and maternal care to remote or impoverished communities. The other unmet prerequisites for improvement in health status are that communities participate in and take some responsibility for their health care needs. There are now unprecedented opportunities for collaboration with international partners, churches, non-government organizations and community groups to achieve these goals. Specific key strategies in child health include the more widespread utilization of the 10-Step Checklist, adoption of some of the World Health Organization Integrated Management of Childhood Illness strategies, increased output of child health nursing training, improving vaccine delivery and cold-chain services, and new immunization strategies for acute respiratory infections. The National Health Plan 2001-2010, launched in August 2000, emphasizes the vital importance of public health; the need for greater access to quality health services; improving clinical skills among health workers at all levels; and cooperation between all interested parties. By 2010 the National Health Plan must be judged not on how good the plan seemed on paper, but on whether there was a measurable reduction in maternal and child mortality over the first decade of this century.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0031-1480
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
43
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
13-7
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:articleTitle
Current opportunities and future challenges in child health in Papua New Guinea.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Health, Port Moresby and Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article