Papua New Guinea’s COVID-19 crisis

Until early 2021, Papua New Guinea had been largely spared of any major COVID-19 outbreak. But with confirmed COVID-19 cases tripling in March and increasing numbers of healthcare staff testing positive, the situation has become dire. 

At Rita Flynn hospital in Port Moresby, where MSF is responding, almost 40 per cent of people getting tested are testing positive for COVID-19. 

What is causing Papua New Guinea's COVID-19 crisis? 

With the health facilities managing COVID-19 close to capacity and almost too stretched to provide regular primary healthcare, the entire health system is close to collapse. The rapid rate of infection of healthcare workers is only making the crisis worse, as these staff have to isolate once they test positive and leave fewer healthcare staff available to treat patients. 

The lack of testing capacity in the country is also likely to significantly hamper efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Supplies are low across the country, and MSF currently only has enough testing cartridges to last for up to two weeks.

“The health facilities are struggling to cope with the outbreak,” says Ghulam Nabi, MSF’s Interim Head of Mission in Papua New Guinea. “There are almost no cartridges left, which are required to test PCR samples, and there aren’t enough healthcare workers to carry out the testing.”

Who is most at risk?

People with existing diseases and illness and frontline healthcare workers are most at risk of contracting COVID-19. Many communities in Papua New Guinea have little or no access to emergency healthcare, presenting huge logistical challenges and potentially deadly consequences if COVID spreads to PNG's most remote communities.

What is needed to end the crisis? 

The current COVID-19 outbreak highlights the urgent need for vaccine equity, as Papua New Guinea has been left behind due to the inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally. While wealthy countries like Australia have pre-purchased millions of doses of vaccines, low-income countries like PNG are pushed to the back of the queue.

The Australian Government has recently sent 8,480 AstraZeneca vaccines to PNG, but this is not enough to cover the country’s 30,000 health workers and ancillary staff, plus other high-risk groups, and is too late for the many healthcare professionals who are already infected. Australia is now locally producing millions of doses of AstraZeneca vaccine which could be shared with Papua New Guinea immediately as it battles this spiralling outbreak.

“The outbreak in PNG is rapidly escalating, with hospitals and clinics overwhelmed and many health workers already infected,” says MSF Australia Executive Director Jennifer Tierney. “What’s needed is a bigger response, now, before the situation gets out of control.”

High-risk people like health workers need to be vaccinated first, no matter where they live, in line with the World Health Organization’s Equitable Allocation Framework. This will reduce the risk of vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variants developing and help end the pandemic sooner. Without access to vaccines and other essential medical tools, Papua New Guinea’s outbreak will only spiral even further out of control. 
“Papua New Guinea needed these vaccines yesterday,” says Tierney. “What will be the situation for other Pacific nations? Australia needs to act fast to ensure that all health workers and other high-risk people are vaccinated across the Pacific.”

MSF's response

MSF has worked in PNG for seven years running tuberculosis programs, and has supported COVID-19 diagnosis at the Rita Flynn testing centre in Port Moresby since October 2020. We are partnering with Rita Flynn hospital to manage a makeshift 43-bed COVID-19 treatment facility to treat moderately to severely ill COIVD-19 patients from early April.