BACKGROUND Recent research as part of a multi-disciplinary investigation on the acceptability and impact of male circumcision for HIV prevention in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has shown that health workers (HWs) undertake unauthorized forms of penile cutting practices in public health facilities or in community settings, at times within a traditional context. Participation in these activities shares...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Male circumcision (MC) has been shown to reduce vaginal transmission of HIV to men. While community acceptability is important in a countries preparedness to introduce MC, it is equally important to map contemporary MC and other penile cutting practices, and the socio-cultural dimensions underpinning these practices. METHODS A total of 482 men and women (n = 276 and n...

BACKGROUND Poor-quality life-saving medicines are a major public health threat, particularly in settings with a weak regulatory environment. Insufficient amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) endanger patient safety and may contribute to the development of drug resistance. In the case of malaria, concerns relate to implications for the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination ther...

Providing affordable housing has been a long-standing issue for governments of most countries. In an attempt to address the issue, affordable housing programs have been introduced with the aim of improving household’s access to housing, as well as sustain their wellbeing. This paper reports on a study of the activities of affordable housing program (AHP) in Papua New Guinea (PNG), using Port Mo...

The conservation of threatened elasmobranchs in tropical regions is challenging due to high local reliance on aquatic and marine resources. Due primarily fishing pressure, river sharks ( Glyphis ) sawfishes (Pristidae) have experienced large population declines the Indo-Pacific. Papua New Guinea (PNG) may offer a refuge for these species, as human density low, shark sawfish populations are thou...

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a culturally, environmentally and ethnically diverse country of 7.3 million people experiencing rapid economic development and social change. Such development is typically associated with an increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors. Aim To establish the prevalence of NCD risk factors in three different regions across PNG in order to guide appropriate p...

BACKGROUND Acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRI) commonly result in fatal outcomes in the young children of Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, comprehensive studies of the viral aetiology of ALRI have not been conducted in PNG for almost 30 years. OBJECTIVES To determine the viruses associated with ALRI among children living in the PNG highlands using sensitive molecular detection tec...

In the current political economy which seeks to commodify nature and market its services, market-based mitigation measures, like the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program, have become prominent strategies to address climate change. The REDD+ program places an economic value on the carbon stored in forests and offers incentives for developing countries to r...

BACKGROUND Male circumcision (MC) has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition among heterosexual men, with WHO recommending MC as an essential component of comprehensive HIV prevention programs in high prevalence settings since 2007. While Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a current prevalence of only 1%, the high rates of sexually transmissible diseases and the extensive, but unregulated, pr...

Melting of the dielectric phase change material inside a closed square enclosure is numerically investigated. The fully coupled equations including Navier-Stokes equations, Poisson's equation, charge conservation equation and energy are solved using lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Strong injection from high temperature vertical electrode considered basic characteristics fluid flow, transport he...