Founded in 2000, ADI's goal is to improve the health of people in remote and rural areas of [Papua New Guinea|PNG]]. ADI specialises in Doctor Supervised Integrated Health Patrols, deploying volunteer doctors and health managers to work in partnership with local health providers to provide medical treatment to save lives and reduce suffering, community health education

Health education

Health education is the profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health...

 to reduce preventable illness and disease, and training to build the capacity of local health workers.

ADI was founded in 2000 by former Manly Mayor, politician and general practitioner, Dr Peter Macdonald

Peter Macdonald (Australian politician)

Peter Alexander Cameron Macdonald OAM is an Australian medical practitioner and politician from Glasgow, Scotland . He was formerly the independent member for the Electoral district of Manly in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and Mayor of Manly Council, and is currently serving as a...

. The organisation first started working in Western Province

Western Province

Western Province or West Province may refer to:*Western Province, Cameroon*Western Province, Rwanda*Western Province *Western Province *Western Province *Western Province, Sri Lanka...

 in partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Daru-Kiunga to help support their rural health network and services. In 2011 ADI expanded its program to remote and rural areas of New Ireland Province in partnership with the Provincial Government.

ADI's key achievements include:

• Deployed more than 30 volunteer doctors on over 38 assignments;
• Distributed 50,000+ malaria bed nets to remote villages in Western Province
• Ran a six year Mass Drug Administration program to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in the Nomad-Mougulu region of Western Province
• Ran a HIV/AIDS awareness radio program
• Introduced a leprosy treatment, education and advocacy program for a community of over 30 leprosy patients in the Bosset region of Western Province,
• Started an annual in-service health training workshop for over 100 health workers in Western Province
  Western Province
  Western Province or West Province may refer to:*Western Province, Cameroon*Western Province, Rwanda*Western Province *Western Province *Western Province *Western Province, Sri Lanka...
  
  , a first for many participants.

As part of itsDoctor Supervised Integrated Health Patrols, ADI’s volunteers travel by plane, boat and foot to remote and rural health centres, aid posts and hospitals to provide essential health care to people living in extreme poverty. Western Province, which is located on the border with West Papua, consists of raging rivers, steep mountain ranges up to 8,000m, vast floodplains and dense jungle. New Ireland Province, which is located off the mainland in the far northeast of PNG, consists of many isolated islands separated by rough seas. It can take weeks to complete a patrol in places such as the Star Mountains

Star Mountains

The Star Mountains are a mountain range in western Papua New Guinea, stretching from the border with Indonesia, at about to the Hindenburg Range...

 and Awaba River region in Western Province or Konoagil (otherwise known as The Last Corner by locals) in New Ireland Province.

ADI's services include:

1. Medical treatment: To help save lives and reduce suffering, ADI’s doctors currently treat more than 3,500 patients every year. Some people have never seen a doctor before, others only once every couple of years. Consequently, ADI's doctors see many people in advanced stages of disease that could have been prevented. Common diseases and illnesses include malaria and tuberculosis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, muscular skeletal, respiratory and serious eye problems.

2. Training and education: To help strengthen the capacity of local health workers, ADI’s doctors conduct case-based training during clinics and teach medical education sessions. Every year, ADI also facilitates an in-service health training which brings together health staff from various locations for a week of intensive learning with local and expatriate health experts.

3. School and community health education: Many lives are lost due to a lack of knowledge about how diseases are caused, prevented and treated. To help with this, ADI’s doctors and health managers deliver health education talks which address PNG national health priorities and target specific groups. In 2010-2011, ADI’s volunteers gave health talks to over 15,000 adults and school children in Western Province.

Where possible, ADI's doctors work alongside local health workers who perform parallel services including infant immunisations, eye/ear testing and dental. In New Ireland Province, ADI travels with a large team of provincial and district health staff who undertake community health promotion, health centre management and dental, disease control and environmental health activities.

Approved by AusAID as an OADGR, ADI is a member of ACFID and a signatory to its Code of Conduct. ADI aims for continuous improvement in health indicators as a result of its activities through the use of a structured monitoring and evaluation framework.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PNG has not shown any sustained improvement in health since 2002. It is unlikely to meet any of the UN Millennium Goals, especially those on child and maternal mortality. Rural areas - where 86% of the population lives - are particularly disadvantaged, with 30% of health aid posts closed. The rest are often run-down and under-resourced. Doctor shortage

Doctor shortage

Physician supply refers to the number of trained physicians working in a health care system or active in the labour market. The supply depends primarily on the number of graduates of medical schools in a country or jurisdiction, but also on the number who continue to practice medicine as a career...

 is a major problem. Western Province has just 14 doctors - all urban based - for 212,000 people spread far and wide. This includes one doctor per 8,800 people in North Fly District and no doctor for 74,800 in Middle Fly District. New Ireland Province has just 10 local doctors - all based at Kavieng Hospital - for 160,000 people. Due to heavy workloads and lack of funding, they rarely visit rural health centres and aid posts.

Forty percent of deaths in PNG are caused by six diseases that can be easily and inexpensively treated at aid posts. Diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

, diarrhea

Diarrhea

Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...

l diseases, meningitis

Meningitis

Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...

 and HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

/AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 account for about half of all deaths in PNG. Of every 1,000 children born, 69 will die before age five and another 53 won’t even survive their infancy. Five women die in childbirth every day and only two in five deliver at a health facility.

PNG also has:
- The highest rate of malaria in the Western Pacific, a leading cause of death in children under five in PNG;
- The highest rate of lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) in the world, with over 1 million people infected;
- The highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific region - an estimated 34,000 people are HIV-positive;
- The second highest incidence of leprosy in Western Province, despite the disease being treatable and virtually eradicated elsewhere in PNG;
- High incidence of intestinal diseases, such as cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 and typhoid, due to contaminated food and water;
- A worsening medical supply chain

Supply chain

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...

- only 50% of health centres/hospitals have adequate stocks of the most basic essential medicines.