Papua New Guinea

Rural communities in the mountains of PNG can be difficult to reach.

Credit: Oxfam NZ

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a mountainous and mostly inaccessible country consisting of a group of islands situated at the western rim of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and Asia.

The largest of these islands, New Guinea, is divided between Indonesian West Papua and the state of Papua New Guinea.

Independent from Australia since 1975, PNG is a large country with a population of under six million, where 80% live in rural, inaccessible areas with little or no public services.

With the monsoon season lasting for around four months each year, seasonal water shortages are commonplace. Periodically the country also suffers from severe droughts caused by the El Nino effect, the last one being in 1998.

Access to clean drinking water is an issue for over half of the population and there are large disparities between water and sanitation provision throughout the country.

WaterAid in Papua New Guinea

One of our newest country programs, WaterAid started work in PNG during 2005 and we have now successfully completed our first project in the country.

Latrine moulds being prepared at Shiave Primary School in the Eastern Highlands.

Credit: Oxfam NZ

Poor sanitation and hygiene contributes toward the spread of easily prevented but deadly water-borne illnesses including bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and typhoid fever.

Funds from WaterAid Australia have supported the building of 84 latrines in 14 schools in the Eastern Highlands. This project worked specifically with school children as they are often the most vulnerable to illnesses and mortality associated with bad hygiene practices.

The latrines, coupled with an extensive program of hygiene education, have benefited over 5000 school children and indirectly 13,300 community members to date.

WaterAid hopes that the long term cultural change bought about by educating school-children in the Eastern Highlands in good hygiene practices will carry on through the generations and have a lasting effect in the health of the people in the area.

Plans: 2006-2011

Being one of our newest country programs, the scope for developing future projects in PNG is vast. Plans in the near future include developing a five-year country program strategy and identifying new partners and projects.

While WaterAid's strategy is being developed during 2006/2007 WaterAid Australia will continue its work with ATprojects and Oxfam NZ supplying safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education to schools in the Eastern Highlands.

The political climate for development in the water and sanitation sector is improving. The Government's 2001-2010 National Health Plan aims to prioritize these essential services with water quality monitoring and promotion of safe waste disposal alongside ensuring water supplies are sustainable year-round even through droughts.

This said, current budget allocations to the water and sanitation sector are relatively small.

The Asian Development Bank is investing in water and sanitation improvements in provincial towns many rural communities remain unserved. This is where WaterAid will continue to focus its efforts for the foreseeable future.