 Signboard at IMR Goroka | |
| Established | 1968 |
|---|---|
The Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNG IMR) is the principal institution conducting health research in Papua New Guinea with a focus on health problems affecting the country's population.
| Signboard at IMR Goroka | |
| Established | 1968 |
|---|---|
The Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNG IMR) is the principal institution conducting health research in Papua New Guinea with a focus on health problems affecting the country's population.
The Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research is a statutory body of the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The Institute was established in 1968 through an Act of Parliament and it effectively acts as the research arm of the PNG Department of Health. The ultimate aim of all the Institute's research activities is to provide effective interventions, leading to improvements in people's health and the control and prevention of disease. The basis for achieving this aim is greater understanding of the disease process and constraints to change. In part, this understanding comes from knowledge of the external causative agents of disease and in part from examining the host factors involved. [1]
Early work of the institute focused on respiratory diseases, pigbel (clostridial necrotizing enteritis), [2] and kuru. Since then, major research programs have been established in respiratory diseases, malaria, malnutrition, enteric diseases, sexual health, women's health, and others. [3]
The Institute's second director (1977-2000) was Professor Michael Alpers, [4] an Australian medical researcher who was instrumental in the discovery of the epidemiology and transmission of kuru. [5]
The Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research has its headquarters with offices and laboratories in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province. The headquarters also house the Michael Alpers Library and the Adolf Saweri Lecture Theatre. Another major branch is located at Yagaum, near the coastal town of Madang. The Institute has smaller branches and offices in Maprik and Wewak (East Sepik Province), and in the capital Port Moresby. Research activities are carried out in several additional field sites across the country, including Alotau (Milne Bay), Karkar Island (Madang) and Hides (Southern Highlands).
The PNG IMR is organized in an administrative and support services section and four scientific units:
The unit focuses on research into malaria and lymphatic filariasis. Most activities are concentrated in the branches in Madang and Maprik. The unit includes molecular and immunological laboratories, a large research microscopy section, and an entomology laboratory. The unit also conducts clinical trials with antimalarial drugs.
The unit conducts research into enteric diseases, including cholera, and respiratory diseases including pneumonia and tuberculosis. The unit also conducts continuous surveillance of suspected cases of kuru.
This unit emerged in 2011 from the former Operational Research Unit. The PHDU focuses on assessing large-scale trends in health and disease by applying an interdisciplinary population-based research approach. The unit’s current emphasis is on the evaluation of large-scale health interventions implemented at national or sub-national levels and the assessment of changes in health trends related to large-scale development projects. The PHDU’s mission is to conduct policy-relevant interdisciplinary research with the aim to understand population-level changes and determinants of health and disease in Papua New Guinea. In consideration of changes in disease patterns related to social and economical developments, the PHDU is planning to expand into the areas of Non Communicable Diseases and Cancers as well as Health Systems Research and Health Economics.
This is the second unit that emerged from the previous Operational Research Unit. It conducts clinical, laboratory and social research into sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, and other sexual and reproductive health issues.
The most recently established unit deals with environmental pathogens and infectious diseases that have recently been emerging in PNG, such as cholera and influenza.
Research at IMR is interdisciplinary and often translational. Scientific disciplines represented at the institute include epidemiology, microbiology, immunology, entomology, medical anthropology, molecular genetics, biostatistics, public health, and demography.
The IMR headquarters in Goroka also houses the editorial office of the Papua New Guinea Medical Journal, a peer-reviewed scientific periodical published by the Medical Society of PNG. [1] Electronic versions of the journal's publications can be obtained for many editions through the website of the institute.
The institute receives core funding from the Government of Papua New Guinea and from AusAID. While both the government and AusAID contribute to research studies, most research grants are competitively acquired from overseas funding agencies and additional studies are conducted as contract research. Thanks to the IMR's successful history and its extensive network of international collaborators, the institute has been able to secure research grants and contracts from major donor agencies, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Health Organization, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and several others. In the last two years, the PNG Liquified Natural Gas (PNG LNG) project has been providing infrastructural and research support through IMR's engagement in the health impact assessment of this large development project. [6]
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's mission is to conduct basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions.
Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), 1,600 meters above sea level. It has an airport and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from Lae in Morobe province and 90 km from the nearby town of Kainantu also in the Eastern Highlands. Other nearby towns include Kundiawa in Simbu Province and Mount Hagen in Western Highlands Province. It has a mild climate, known as a "perpetual Spring".
Eastern Highlands is a highlands province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Goroka. The province covers an area of 11,157 km², and has a population of 579,825. The province shares a common administrative boundary with Madang Province to the north, Morobe Province to the east, Gulf Province to the south, and Simbu Province to the west. The province is the home of the Asaro mud mask that is displayed at shows and festivals within the province and in the country. The province is reachable by air, including Goroka Airport, and road transport, including the main Highlands Highway.
Education in Papua New Guinea is managed through nineteen provinces and two district organisational units. It is tuition-free and attendance is not compulsory.
Religion in Papua New Guinea is dominated by various branches of Christianity, with traditional animism and ancestor worship often occurring less openly as another layer underneath or more openly side by side with Christianity. The Catholic Church has a plurality of the population. The courts, government, and general society uphold a constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and beliefs. A secular state, there is no state religion in the country, although the government openly partners with several Christian groups to provide services, and churches participate in local government bodies.
The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Papua New Guinea has approximately two million Catholic adherents, approximately 27% of the country's total population.
Kuru is a rare, incurable, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that was formerly common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea. Kuru is a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) caused by the transmission of abnormally folded proteins (prions), which leads to symptoms such as tremors and loss of coordination from neurodegeneration.
Founded in 2000, ADI's goal is to improve the health of people in remote and rural areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG). ADI specialises in Doctor Supervised Integrated Health Patrols, deploying volunteer doctors and health managers to work in partnership with local health providers to provide medical treatment to save lives and reduce suffering, community health education to reduce preventable illness and disease, and training to build the capacity of local health workers.
Naval Medical Research Unit Three (NAMRU-3) is a biomedical research laboratory of the US Navy located in Sigonella, Italy. Previously it was located in Cairo, Egypt. NAMRU-3 is the oldest U.S. overseas military medical research facility that has remained in the same location, and one of the largest medical research laboratories in the North Africa-Middle East region. The laboratory has been in continuous operation despite periods of political tension and a seven-year lapse in U.S.-Egyptian relations (1967–1973) since 1942.
Life expectancy in Papua New Guinea (PNG) at birth was 64 years for men in 2016 and 68 for women.
Situm is a government ex-servicemen block outside of Lae in Labuta Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Papua New Guinea on 20 March 2020. On 4 May 2020, Papua New Guinea was declared COVID-19 free. However, on 20 June, the government confirmed another case of COVID-19, meaning that the disease was present again within the country.
Evelyn Lavu was the most senior pathologist in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and a recognised leader in the fight against HIV, malaria and drug-resistant tuberculosis. She was Director of the Central Public Health Laboratory in Papua New Guinea for over a decade and, in June 2021, became PNG's first and only female Professor of Medicine.
Tessie Soi is known throughout Papua New Guinea (PNG) as the founder of Friends Foundation. This organization supports people who have HIV/AIDS. She later became involved in supporting victims of family and sexual violence.
Yolarnie Amepou is a zoologist and conservationist from Papua New Guinea. She is known for her work to protect the Papuan softshell turtle in Kikori. In 2017 she was a Youth Champion for the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. She was also received a Pride of Papua New Guinea Award for Environment in 2015.
Louise Morauta is an anthropologist and former public servant in Australia. For many years she taught anthropology and sociology at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). She was the first wife of the former prime minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Mekere Morauta.
Julienne Kaman, from Papua New Guinea (PNG), is Pro-Chancellor of the University of Goroka in PNG's Highlands Region.
Pamela Toliman is a medical researcher from Papua New Guinea (PNG) who has researched areas such as sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, cervical cancer and COVID-19.
On 11 September 2022, an earthquake of moment magnitude 7.6–7.7 struck Papua New Guinea, in the northern part of Morobe Province. The normal faulting earthquake occurred with a hypocenter depth of 116.0 km (72.1 mi) beneath the Finisterre Range. A maximum perceived Modified Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) was estimated. Shaking was widely felt across the country and even in neighbouring Indonesia. At least 21 people died and 42 were injured, mostly due to landslides.
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