Shortfalls in rolling back malaria in Papua New Guinean children

Trotz modernster Medikamente leiden und sterben heute in Papua Neuguinea mehr Kinder an der Malaria als je zuvor. Was sind die Hintergründe dieser Katastrophe?

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With more than 1.7 million annual malaria cases Papua New Guinea is probably the country with the highest pressure of infection world wide. Most of the cases occur in children under the age of five in the form of severe tropical malaria caused by plasmodium falciparum. Until now we do not see any significant decline concerning the burden of disease or infection rates in this age group despite a heavy influx of up-to-date medicines and recent changes in treatment policies. What are the reasons behind an obvious failure in saving Papua New Guinean children from malaria? This book describes two interventions that were carried out to elucidate the transformation of international guidelines into local policy, the actual drug deployment in rural areas and its consequences to the children of Papua New Guinea. Based on the survey results the author reflects on causes and consequences of an apparently increasing treatment failure that unsettle parents and health workers to a great extend. Handy recommendations are given to find a way out of the crisis. Dr. Andreas Schultz is a medical doctor, SSMO in paediatrics and a consultant in tropical medicine. He holds a master degree in international health and a diploma in tropical medicine and public health. This work is the result of an independent research performed during his work at the Braun Memorial Hospital in Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea and has been generously supported by the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Schultz was assistant director medical services and head of the paediatric and neonatology unit at Braun Memorial Hospital. He was a program coordinator and head of FHS and PHC services until March 2009, when he and his family returned back to Germany. This work was done to examine the actual exposure of the most vulnerable group (children aged 0-5 years) and by what means of drug deployment and distribution exposure is created. It also deals with the different challenges of putting across international guidelines in malaria treatment at the district level.