PNG 2023 Mission

Building on the experience of the PNG 2022 mission, Aidocean has set off again in October and November 2023 to continue its commitment to the children of Papua New Guinea.

The PNG mission is still based on the “2021-2030 Emergency Plan” drawn up by the WHO, the American Red Cross and UNICEF. The urgent task is to vaccinate the world’s least immunised countries against measles and rubella, in order to combat new epidemics.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the 194th least vaccinated country in the world…

Objectives of the PNG 2023 mission

Vaccination and medical care remained the priority for this 2023 mission:

Primary and booster vaccinations for children aged O to 5 against measles, rubella, tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, pertussis and poliomyelitis ;
Dental care ;
Pregnancy monitoring and contraceptive implants. During the PNG 2022 campaign, this was one of the requests the team heard many times from women. In fact, in this region, the average number of children per woman is 6, compared with 4 nationally.
Eye checks and distribution of magnifying glasses ;
Distribution of books in schools.
A “Water” advisor who reviewed the drinking water supply infrastructure (reservoirs, wells, etc.). He was also responsible for offering workshops: filters to improve the pH or clean up pollution, building dry toilets, etc… Here again, there was a need: during our first vaccination campaign, the tribes were asking us for drinking water, suffering from water shortages (lack of rain and rivers drying up) and degraded water quality with the resulting health risks.

Which team for the PNG 2023 mission ?

In 2023, a stronger team headed for the island of New Hanover.

The team aboard “The Golden Dawn” (a 25-metre boat that allows us to sail between the islands) was made up of :

A medical team of local and French health professionals. It was important to take on board as many locals as possible so that we could talk to the local population, who speak English on the whole but often “Creole” English. There are 800 languages spoken in Papua.
A ‘Water’ referent
A drawer.

The French staff included :

Marine BAYER : nurse and president of Aidocean, she supervised this mission ;
Françoise Quinaud-Greene, gynaecologist ;
Fréderic Laville, dentist ;
David Chaudey, nurse ;
Emmanuelle Harcaut, pharmacist ;
Marc Henrion and Mike Hosken, water referents ;
Olivier Paul, hydroULM pilot, a tool we hope to use on a future mission ;
Emmanuel Prost, drawer.

Given the length of the mission, some staff took turns.

Local staff included :

Jennifer (midwife)
Abraham (dentist)
Jack (dental assistant)
Ignatius (ophthalmic nurse)
Davyna (nurse)
Janita (vaccinator)
Musangu (dentist)
Maline (dental assistant)

Here again, given the length of the mission, some staff took turns.

Want to join the mission ?

We currently have the support of a number of partners, for which we are very grateful. We are still looking for funding to be able to offer even more care and equipment to the people of New Ireland. If you would like to support us, you can make an online donation. You can also contact us with any partnership proposals.

Thank you for your support. Without you, the PNG 2023 mission would not have happened !

Latest news on the PNG 2023 mission

Find out more about the PNG 2023 medical care and vaccination mission in the latest news. To make sure you don’t miss out on any of Aidocean’s upcoming events, you can follow Marine and the whole team on our facebook page and on our intagram.