Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
April 2001
Type 1 diabetes in children is very rare in Papua New Guinea. This is fortunate, as there are no long-term (> 5 year) survivors of type 1 in the country - the few cases reported have all died. Most of the population live in villages, with limited access to health care. Very few physicians in the country have any experience with type 1 diabetes. There is a free basic health system, but resources are very scarce. Insulin is provided by the Government, but glucometers and testing strips have to be privately purchased at premium prices.
There are only a couple of diabetes educators, and they do not have paediatric training. Papua New Guinea does not have any dietitians at all working in hospitals. One of the benefits of the sponsorship program will be the education of, and technical support for health professionals. We have tremendous news to report about Jacklyne, the child whose story was featured on the fundraising brochure:
Jacklyne is from the highland village of Mul. She is nine years old, the only child of her parents, and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1997. The district where her village lies was opened up to the outside world in 1949, and even today requires a four-wheel drive approach along precipitous mountain roads. The area has no electrical supply or telephones, and the Health Centre has no experience with diabetes and is frequently without even basic medicines. So the family has been forced to stay, living in poverty, with relatives on the edge of larger highlands centres, using expired insulin and unable to monitor herself. She was thin and unwell, with visual disturbances and overall in a very perilous situation.
October 2001
Jacklyne, who was featured in the first update, continues to do well. Another child in the highlands is receiving assistance with glucometer strips, allowing her father to monitor her blood sugar level as necessary. The key measurement used to monitor control in diabetes - a measure of glycosylated haemoglobin known as HbA1c, has until now been completely unavailable in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The BioRad company have on our request generously donated some samples of a new HbA1c technique, allowing the samples to be sent by post to Sydney. We now can provide regular measurements for these children, assisting the physicians looking after them to optimise their management.
May 2002
The two children living in the highlands - Jacklyne and Muo - are doing well, thanks to the supplies from the program, and dedicated physicians in the country. One child is being looked after at the Summer Institute of Linguistics clinic in Ukarumpa, the other is now more secure, living with her father in Kundiawa, and managed by telephone and fax contact with HOPE worldwide staff in Port Moresby.
May 2003
In Papua New Guinea, Jacklyne (the girl in the highlands featured in our first update) has returned to the town of Kundiawa after hospitalisation for an abdominal complaint. She and her family are managing well with self-monitoring using a glucometer.