Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is an independent nation in the Pacific, sharing the large island of New Guinea with the Indonesian states of Papua and West Irian Jaya. Papua New Guinea is comprised of the eastern half of the island and many small off-shore islands. It is the most linguistically-diverse country in the world, with more than 850 different languages (one-tenth of the world's total) and about as many different indigenous groups. Most of the country is covered by rainforest and volcanic mountains, including 4,500-meter Mt Wilhelm.

The population is 5,800,000 and growing at 2.163 percent. The birth rate is 28.76 births per 1,000 and the death rate is 7.14 per 1,000. Median age is 21.4 years. Life expectancy is 63.41 years for males ands 67.95 years for females. Gross national income is $580 per person, with 37 percent living in poverty. Although the country has ample natural resources, the difficult terrain makes it hard to access, and 85 percent of population sticks to agriculture. Unemployment ranges from 2 to 80 percent depending on the region. Only 13 percent of Papua New Guineans live in urban areas.

Papua New Guinea was making great strides in reducing its communicable disease burden until the 1990s, at which point progress stalled. Today, communicable diseases are responsible for half of all mortality in the country. Malaria is endemic, and along with pneumonia, is the cause the majority of hospital admissions and of a third of recorded deaths. Most of the country lacks potable water and sanitation. This leads to a high risk for diarrhea and other intestinal disorders, typhoid fever, and other illnesses. There were 400,000 cases of Hepatitis B diagnosed in 2002 alone.

The country is one of four nations in the region dealing with a generalized AIDS epidemic (along with Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar). The adult prevalence rate is 1.8 percent, with 60,000 believed to be infected. Most AIDS patients are heterosexuals between the ages of 20 and 40, and more than half are women. Early introduction to sexual activity and multiple partners are culturally acceptable, and combined with a high level of violence and coercion against women, creates a perfect environment for the virus to spread. The tuberculosis rate is also high, with 448 cases per 100,000 and a 58 percent cure rate.

Non-communicable diseases are taking a toll on the health of residents, with climbing rates of hypertension, diabetes, and cancers. Many of these stem from preventable causes, including widespread use of tobacco, alcohol, and poor diet. Lack of health knowledge among the people is an important factor in the [Page 1332]spread of both communicable and non-communica-ble disease. Efforts by officials to educate the people on things they can do to better their health tend to fall down at the local level.

An average of 35 children under the age of 5 and 20 infants under the age of 1 die each day in Papua New Guinea, generally from malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, or measles.

Weakening as a result of malnutrition is believed to be a contributory cause in many of these deaths, with an estimated 30 percent of children under age 5 lacking vital nutrients in their diets.

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