Destination country/region: East New Britain, Papua – New Guinea

Period: November- December 2021

Brief description: A ten-strong team of medics has been shadowing the local health system in Papua New Guinea in the fight against Covid-19. There have been many problems there recently due to the delta variant.

Project Progress:

Due to the difficult pandemic situation, the government of Papua – New Guinea asked WHO for medical support. CADUS responded to the request and sent nine medics to Papua New Guinea. There, the team spent three weeks in and around Nonga Hospital, in the East New Britain region. As a shadowing mission, the main focus was on passing on the expert knowledge that the medics had acquired in the two previous years in Germany while treating Corona patients.

Our physicians observed the local hospital routine and processes in order to improve them in cooperation with their Papua New Guinean colleagues. Although the staffing and resource constraints of the local health system were a major challenge, much was already accomplished with relatively little funding. The team provided training on patient positioning, triaging, hygiene and protective clothing for staff. An existing CPAP ventilator was also modified and, with appropriate training, used to ventilate patients.

In this way, our medics, in collaboration with their local colleagues, succeeded in having the most sustainable and positive effect on processes and everyday hospital life in a relatively short period of time.