 |
|
|
||
What is the Need for Health along the Kokoda Track today?Many entrenched and severe health issues continue to face Papua New Guineans today, particularly those people living in remote and rural communities. Access to basic healthcare is often limited and sometimes nonexistent. Community aid posts and health centres are often under resourced and do not have access to trained professionals to administer basic healthcare. In adults in PNG, malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid, and pneumonia continue to be the leading causes of death across the country, whilst HIV/AIDS became the leading cause of death in PNG hospitals in 2000. Maternal health continues to be a major issue for PNG. Currently, a woman in PNG has a 1 in 25 chance of dying as a result of child birth complication. These maternal deaths occur anywhere between the onset of labour to several days after delivery and safe delivery environments can prevent these deaths from occurring. Among PNG children, the leading causes of death are preventable and/or treatable and include pneumonia, measles, meningitis, malaria, and neonatal sepsis. Furthermore, during the past 20 years, the child mortality rate has not demonstrated any improvement in PNG. UNICEF has found that this is the case in only four countries in the world – Burma, Niger, Zambia, and PNG. Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, whooping cough, and influenza infections, still kill children in PNG.
|
|
||||