Partnerships see better outcomes

GETTING good health outcomes can be hard in Hela and the Nipa-Kutubu district of Southern Highlands, two poor and remote rural areas that are repeatedly cut off by tribal conflicts.
And it should have been harder than ever last year, when the area bore the brunt of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, along with an outbreak of polio.
But the statistics tell a different story. In 2018 the Department of Health had already flagged that Hela had improved dramatically from the previous year. This is again clearly evident with more funding flowing to the frontline for service delivery.
Hela has also proved one of the best performances in the Highlands in responding to the polio epidemic.
What happened?
The answer seems to lie in strong local leadership, new ways to partner and the view that no organisation can alone achieve the change in health outcomes that is required.
These views have come together under a new initiative, Wok Bung Wantaim (WBW), a first-of-its-kind partnership between the PNG and Australian governments, Oil Search Foundation, churches, private sector, civil society and community.
Launched last May, WBW is bringing everyone together, working to achieve better results.
The idea is to agree on a strategy that meets the interest of all key partners in seeing improved health services against shared goals – such as the number of kids immunised or the number of women accessing health services to deliver their babies. Partners then work within existing government structures to deliver better health services.
Working with Government of PNG national departments to increase funding and coordination, working with Members of Parliament to rebuild critical infrastructure and working at the community level to build peace and security, WBW is partnerships in action.
And the good news is that WBW’s just getting started. It has been established in Hela and will roll out to Southern Highlands this year.
“The underlying value is partnership,” Hela CEO James Kintwa says.
“No one alone has the skills or resources to shift poor health indicators in an environment challenged by limited capacity, poor security, remoteness and a lack of sufficient funding. But when Papua New Guineans work together, just about anything’s possible,” Kintwa says.
According to Will Robinson, Counsellor of Public Policy and Health Security at the Australian High Commission, “The Australian Government is backing this project to support strong local leadership of health service delivery. The future of PNG’s health system is in the hands of Papua New Guineans, but Australia will be there to support PNG for the long run.”
An example of WBW’s approach was last year’s outreach to churches. After encouraging the government to directly allocate funds to the Hela Provincial Health Authority – a break from the previous practice putting health function grants for rural health care through provincial governments – WBW helped the Hela PHA to meet with local churches which manage most of Hela’s health facilities.
Both parties found ways to work better together and the PHA agreed to give over K500,000 to the churches from their budget to improve service delivery.
“We know from experience that working in PNG government systems is the only way for sustainable outcomes.” says Stephanie Copus-Campbell, the executive director of the Oil Search Foundation.
“I have seen over my many years working in PNG how separate or parallel systems do not work in the longer term. Once a key partner pulls out or a project ends, the project results are likely to end with it.”
WBW also works at the national level of government to help identify blockages in service delivery and improve systems. It works at the provincial level to strengthen governance and capacity including provincial health authority boards and it operates at the district level to help health facilities better plan, budget and deliver services.
This is already leading to better services with more immunisations and improved infrastructure.

• Article and pictures supplied by Oil Search Foundation Public Relations.