A high-level delegation visit was made to the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR) by Australian parliamentarians, senior DFAT officers, Save the Children staff and an Australian journalist on 13 August, 2019.
The main purpose of the visit was to discover and know what PNGIMR does in helping to maintain the optimal state of health of PNG citizens.
During the visitation, the Director of PNGIMR, Professor William Pomat, welcomed the delegates to the Institution and explained that this Institute has a number of branches and Goroka is the headquarters.
Prof. Pomat added that this Institution is responsible for monitoring and evaluation for malaria and also covers a range of research areas, particularly in infectious diseases.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director of Science and Vector Borne Head Unit, Dr Moses Laman said that PNGIMR will turn 51 years old which is a long history.
“Many of those years have been spent with the Australian partners in helping us to do operational research on the ground.
“We are thankful that we have partners who enabled us to do the work that we continue to do. We have been doing a lot of work on strengthening malaria and diagnosis and treatment throughout the country,” said Dr Laman.
On behalf of the team who visited, one of the Parliamentarians, Senator Nita Cueer said that most people think PNG has a lot to learn from Australia, however, Australia has a lot to learn from PNG.
“We have had funding cuts to programs that prevented diseases spreading and as a result we had high rates of HIV in our indigenous community and a syphilis outbreak that is still not under control,” said the Senator.
She thanked the PNGIMR for the warm welcome and having the privilege to learn more about the work of the Institution.”
