Rehabilitation services in Papua New Guinea

It is now accepted that in developing countries community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is the most effective way to meet the needs of the disabled. The proportion of the population of Papua New Guinea (PNG) having access to CBR is not known. The purpose of this project was to clarify the extent of rehabilitation services in PNG. It was hoped that by establishing the extent of services, communication and cooperation between them would increase, leading to more efficient and effective use of the limited resources (human and otherwise) available for rehabilitation in PNG. A questionnaire was sent to all known existing rehabilitation services, all provincial health departments, provincial hospitals and church health services. A 47% response rate was achieved. Results showed that most provinces have some form of rehabilitation available but rehabilitation is not spread equally throughout PNG. Most of the services are based in the urban centres and the rural population is badly served except in the Highlands Region and the Sepik provinces, which appear to be more comprehensively served by CBR. The services that do exist are hampered by lack of human and material resources and difficulty accessing clients due to transport difficulties. There needs to be a greater movement of rehabilitation into the community with government backing. The greatest effort is being made by Callan Services for Disabled Persons based in Wewak with its group of Special Education Resource Centres that also carry out CBR. CBR would appear to be an appropriate way to address the needs of the disabled PNG population, but in order to be successful it requires greater backing and more trained personnel.