Page 25 - November 2021 IB FINAL

Pacific Health Pacific Health
FIVE-YEAR TIMELINE TO VACCINATE

By Kevin McQuillan He points out they were tripping around the country for
political purposes, not wearing masks and shaking hands
New modelling has revealed that Solomon Islands, Vanuatu wherever they went.
and Papua New Guinea will have vaccinated less than 20% of “He even allowed foreigners into the country without com-
their adult populations by the end of this year and it could plying with COVID regulations.”
take five years to vaccinate just one-third of PNG.
New research from the Lowy Institute shows slow rollout Provincial health authorities ‘weak’
for COVID-19 vaccinations among some Pacific Island countries Former Australian High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kem-
threatens to undermine their economic recovery from the ish, writes that perhaps most troubling of all is the sense
pandemic, with some countries unlikely to reach basic levels that many Papua New Guineans regard COVID as just another
of vaccination among their citizens within five years. health challenge to add to the list of health issues, among
Lowy Institute Research Fellow Alexandre Dayant blames them maternal mortality, malaria and tuberculosis, facing the
poor health service delivery and ‘more worryingly’, misinfor- country.
mation as leading to outright vaccine resistance. Marape announced that K74 million (US$21 million) had
Papua New Guinea is trailing most of the Pacific in the three been distributed to all provincial health authorities last year,
key measures of dealing with COVID. In mid-November, less but the Government was yet to receive plans back from those
than 2% of the population had been fully vaccinated, the daily authorities on how they planned to spend the funding.
case rate sat at about 300 and the total death toll about 465, Ivarature says this shows the “serious weaknesses in the
although the actual cases and death rate figures are believed decentralisation of health services, health administration,
to be considerably higher. incapacity of provincial health authorities and the inability of
“Fiji shows what can be done when supply is no longer a political leadership in provinces to deal with health crisis.”
challenge,” says Dayant. “Through tough measures, including In November, Marape announced that all 89 MPs will be
a no-jab, no-job policy in the public service, Fiji is getting given K2 million for COVID-19 on top of their K10 million Dis-
ready to re-open its economy to much-needed tourist visi- trict Services Improvement Programme (DSIP) funds – a boost
tors.” for their personal slush fund, says Ivarature.
“We don’t know the true extent of the problem because “PNG people should really wake up,” says Ivarature, “be-
testing levels are pathetically low,” Dr Henry Ivarature, at cause this is their money but such accountability culture and
ANU’s Pacific Security College in Canberra, told Islands Busi- ‘ownership’ of public funds has never matured to the level
ness. where they demand financial scrutiny, transparency and pub-
He says the low vaccination rate can be attributed to a lic accountability.”
number of factors, chief among them is lack of education The acting Director for Medical Services at Port Moresby
and awareness about the nature of diseases not helped by General Hospital, Dr Kone Sobi, has echoed warnings that
illiteracy. things are likely to get worse with a fourth outbreak likely
“One of the first group of people that should have been next March, as new outbreaks appear to be occurring every
educated is church leaders,” says Ivarature. six months.
“The situation was not aided by the belief held by many The recent surge in cases has prompted the World Health
COVID-19 is a foreign disease and that Papua New Guineans Organisation to install three plants to produce oxygen at Port
are naturally immune.” Moresby General Hospital, after demand increased by almost
And, he says having a policeman in charge of managing the 200%, according to Health Minister, Jelta Wong. Australia is
pandemic is ‘morally and ethically wrong’. It is a medical is- also providing three tonnes of supplies including PPEs, oxygen
sue, a health problem, not a law-and-order issue.” and medicines to the country’s 10 most affected provinces.
Supply disruption Electioneering
Australia has provided most of the supply to PNG, but the PNG is scheduled to go to an election next year, with the
rollout has been disrupted or abandoned after death threats polling date now tentatively booked in for June 2022.
and attacks on health workers, according to local media While the government has introduced a voluntary “no jab,
reports. no job” policy, Ivarature says the elections mean that many
Marape told parliament in mid-November that 90 per cent MPs are cautious about pushing that message.
of COVID deaths were of unvaccinated people, which he In the coming months there’ll be more politicians, and
blamed on people deliberately spreading misinformation, would-be politicians, heading out and holding events, and
particularly on social media, such as Facebook. likely more big gatherings. It’s another issue for health
authorities to consider as they look to the long-term manage-
Complacency ment of COVID-19 in the country.
Ivarature believes Marape and his MPs have also nurtured
a degree of complacency by disregarding COVID-19 protocols editor@islandsbusiness.com
shortly after the lock-down was lifted last year.

Islands Business, November 2021 25