Papua New Guinea: An island continent - Exciting prospects but MDGs trail

Papua New Guinea (PNG) could be described as a mini continent. It is a country of extraordinary diversity both on land and sea from its fauna and fauna to its economic potential:  oil, gas, minerals, forests and fish.

Lying just south of the equator, 160km north of Australia, the country is part of a huge arc of mountains stretching from Asia, through Indonesia and into the South Pacific. It 5.9 million population is mostly Melanesian. This fascinating country has more than 600 offshore islands, over 600 tribes and more than 800 indigenous languages (tok ples).

Although PNG recorded nine per cent growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year with its initial exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) just two or three years away, it is struggling to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At 733 deaths per 100,000 live births, the figures for maternal mortality contrast with just 34 cases per 100,000 in Fiji and eight in industrialised countries, according to PNG’s own National Health Plan 2011-2020. Literacy rates stand at just 56.2 per cent at 10 years of age, according to the same document. At the end of 2009, 34,100 cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) were recorded according to figures from PNG’s  National Aids Council, most of which are in the Highlands and Southern regions but with increasing numbers in coastal areas, the New Guinea Islands and Momase. 

The EU’s 10th European Development Fund (EDF) €116.3M (2008-2013) targets  poverty alleviation through assistance to rural development - including climate change related projects – as well as education and strengthening  weak administrative capacity. It is also giving a boost to trade and investment under its Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) – a free trade agreement signed between PNG and the EU.

Debra Percival