Provinces Work On Management Plans

the world health organisation (who) and the national health department have commenced training initiatives to enable provincial authorities in Papua New Guinea develop their own disaster plans. The first National Public Health and Emergency Management in Asia Pacific (PHEMAP) workshop held in Kokopo in East New Britain to discuss the issue attracted chief executive officers of hospitals and provincial health advisors.

Many participants at the workshop were concerned that all disasters that had occurred in the country were not effectively managed.

However, they were optimistic that what they had learnt during the workshop would enable them to put together plans to better manage disasters in the future.

Papua New Guinea is prone to disasters of various scales and timely intervention plans are important. One of the worst disasters to hit Papua New Guinea was the tsunami which hit Aitape in July 1998 killing at least 2128 people.

The tsunami, according to scientists, was caused by an offshore submarine landslide instead of a seafloor section collapse.

The disaster management plans, when developed, will form part of the government's 10-year National Health Plan 2002-2010. The national health plan lists disaster management as one of its priority areas. One of the goals is to have the disaster plans completed by 2005.

It is anticipated that with these plans in place, provincial authorities will be in a better position to avoid catastrophic and confusing situations in times of disasters.

The workshop was aimed at strengthening the capacity of health department officials in public health emergency management at national and provincial level by enhancing their knowledge and attitudes and developing skills in emergency preparedness and disaster management.

WHO in recognition of the need for better disaster and emergency management plans sent four Papua New Guinea doctors to the first and second Inter-Regional PHEMAP course conducted by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) in Bangkok in November last year.

WHO also provided a consultant, Dr Roger Doran, to assist in evaluating Papua New Guinea's capacity to deal with health emergencies and disasters.