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.
“