Articles - Miscellaneous

Women's World Day of Prayer - March 6th

This year, Women's World Day of Prayer focuses on Papua New Guinea. In 2004, during my nurse training, I spent 6 weeks there and experienced first hand the people, environment, health provision and belief systems.

The Papua New Guinea people are friendly and welcoming, and during my time in the coastal regions of Oro Province I was often given food and welcomed into homes by the locals. It was challenging to me to see how selfless the people are when they have so little themselves.

Basic healthcare is still not available for everyone, and the Anglican Health Service with whom I worked have a vital role in delivering healthcare to otherwise un-reached communities. They run child vaccinations and clinic programmes from Aid Posts stationed in the remote villages.

Nursing staff travel to these locations by road or water with medical supplies carried in cool bags. Word will have been sent a few days previous and the people gather eager to get each child vaccinated. There is no debating whether to opt out of this vital provision - for those who aren't protected literally do not live to tell the tale. Village health aides are trained to deliver basic first aid and to help bring reliable and trusted medical supplies to these otherwise un-reached people, but the average life expectancy in PNG is still over 15 years less than that of a UK resident. Village birth attendants are trained in midwifery skills to attempt to address child and mother mortality rates which are still upsettingly high. For every 100 000 live births, the maternal mortality rate is 300, compared to 11 in the UK.

During my time at St. Margaret's Health Centre, Oro Bay, I saw women in labour arriving in wheel barrows having endured a 3 or 4 day long journey to their nearest health centre. Some managed to survive the ordeal, but others were less fortunate with both mothers and babies becoming victims to the lack of health provision.

The community in which I was based has strong Christian links to the Anglican Church, and each Sunday staff and patients would attend services to share fellowship with bible readings, prayer and singing.

However, there are strong beliefs in spirits and sorcery amongst the indigenous people, and often people would present with infected wounds or in the late stages of a disease as they had been relying on the spells of the local spirit person. Whilst herbal remedies and bush medicine can be helpful in treating some conditions, it will take time and education to break through this cultural approach to medicine and the irreparable damage it can do if not caught in time. The ingrained belief systems also spill out into other areas of life. During my time at the health centre, a woman gave birth to healthy triplets, a rarity in such conditions. Once back in her community the mother was made an outcast having been told her children were demonic as they came in a three. Sadly, she then did not feed her babies and they died.

The health problems facing PNG are those common to any under developed country in a tropical climate. Apart from those diseases relating to contaminated water and poor nutrition, we dealt with Malaria, TB and tropical ulcers. Unfortunately, there is also a huge rise in the known cases of HIV and AIDS. Education programmes are in place and the health centre displayed a poster reading 'Lukautim yu yet long AIDS'; 'Protect yourself from AIDS'. However progress is frustratingly slow and I cannot help but feel this nation is one of those forgotten regions in the world that people know little about and hear even less of.

In my busy everyday life working in the NHS in Leeds, I take time out to remember my nursing colleagues on the other side of the world. It is easy to become immersed in the rush of hospital life, trying to meet targets, reduce risk and deliver current government agendas, but all these pressures fade into insignificance when I remember my PNG nurse mentor Iga; she is probably still fighting to save tiny babies lives with only candlelight, rain water and a lot of determination.

Hannah Eden (nee Ellis)

Services in our area are held as follows:-

10.30am St Paul's Church, King Lane, Leeds 17
10.30am St Anne's Cathedral, Cookridge Street, Leeds 1
11.00am Roscoe Methodist Church, Francis Street, Leeds 7
2.15pm Church of the Epiphany, Beech Lane, Leeds 9
7.00pm Lidgett Park Methodist Place, Lidgett Place, Leeds 8

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay