The Healthy Islands Concept, a holistic approach to health promotion and education, needs to be embraced by Papua New Guinea to see healthier communities.
Executive Manager of the National Department of Health Public Health Division Dr Sibauk Bieb said this when opening a three-day refresher training on Healthy Island Concept outside Port Moresby recently.
“If you need to see how this concept works, you look at smaller island countries. You will see how the Healthy Island Concept is working. The communities are beautiful and they are very well set up. People in PNG need to wake up and embrace it,’’ said Dr. Bieb.
The Healthy Islands Concept was accepted by the Pacific Health Ministers’ conference on Yanuca Island, Fiji, in 1994.
Since then, the other Pacific Island countries have run with it while PNG implemented it only in two to three villages. There has been no follow-ups over the past 20 years to ensure it extended to other settings and the rest of the country.
The goal in the Healthy Islands Concept is to transform all communities to healthy settings. One of the first examples of this concept was Domil Village in Western Highlands Province.
The Healthy Island Concept encompasses a holistic approach to health promotion and education in the different settings where people live, work, play and die.
The approach includes community engagement and participation in all aspects of the health program, including the planning and monitoring of it. This enables recipients to take ownership of the activities they implement so there is sustainability in the long term.
Dr Bieb has also highlighted that so many changes have occurred since the concept was introduced, including emerging issues that must be taken into consideration.
These includes the Climate Change and Gender Base Violence programs as the Healthy Islands Concept attempts to address all aspects of health in a setting such as a village.
“Tribal fights, for instance, displaces people and homes and properties being burned,’’ he said.
He said unless people changed their mindsets, it will be difficult to change communities and applauded the organisers of the training, which will be rolled out to the provinces.
The three-day refresher training was organised by the National Department of Health’s Health Promotion and Education Branch. Participants came from Environmental Health, HIV/AIDS and Family Health. Retired staff of NDoH Health Promotion and Education Branch Jubal Agale facilitated the workshop.
Nickson Samplap, Coordinator of the Health Promotion with the Christian Health Services, also attended and gave an update on a similar program to the Healthy Island Concept that CHS is implementing in different parts of the country.
The Government, through the National Health Plan 2020 – 2030, is giving Healthy Island Concept a priority. Of the five Key Result Areas of the plan, this concept is in KRA One.
Judah Iparam, Acting Manager, NDoH Health Promotion and Education Branch, said the health promotion and education officers will be working with the Provincial Health Authorities to ensure the concept is taken down to the districts and Local Level Governments in each province.