Papua New Guinea

Fast facts

Population: 6.8 million
Life expectancy: 61.6 years
Under 5 mortality: 69 deaths for every 1,000 live births
Maternal mortality: 250 per 100,000 live births
HIIV prevalence: 0.9%*
Adult literacy rate: 59.1%
Access to improved drinking water: 87% (urban), 33% (rural)** 

(Source: International Human Development Indicators; United Nations Development Programme, 2010; *HIV and AIDS Estimate, UNAIDS, 2009; **Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, WHO/UNICEF, 2008)

Read a special report: Tackling extreme poverty in Papua New Guinea

CARE in Papua New Guinea

CARE has worked in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since 1989, implementing long-term solutions and responding to emergencies including the El Nino drought and frost in 1997, the Aitape tsunami in 1998, the Manam Island volcanic eruption in 2004 and floods in the Oro province in 2007.

CARE has a lasting commitment to PNG, now employing over 40 staff in the country. Since the establishment of a CARE office in Goroka in 2006, we have improved the quality of life of more than 13,000 people in 20 villages by addressing the challenges identified and prioritised by the communities themselves.

We are also supporting remote and disadvantaged areas with improved agricultural practices, water supply, education, HIV prevention and care, disaster risk management and capacity building.

In particular our work in PNG focuses on:

© Josh Estey/CARE

• Community development
• Water and sanitation
• Education
• Agriculture and natural resource management
• HIV/AIDS prevention and care

In a new project, CARE Australia and CARE PNG in partnership with King & Wood Mallesons, the Australian Attorney-General’s Department and Posman Kua Aisi Lawyers, have developed a handbook aimed at building the legal capacity of civil society organisations in PNG... read more.

Download more information on CARE's work in PNG

Stories from CARE's work in Papua New Guinea

© Josh Estey/CARE

Birth attendants offer hope 

by Blossum Gilmour, Mamayo Health Project Manager

Where did you give birth?
In my family’s coffee garden.

Who assisted you?
No one.

This is how a conversation started between CARE PNG staff and a new mother in rural Papua New Guinea. CARE had agreed to help the provincial government assess the support available to pregnant women and new mothers, and while the conversation above was common, the reasons why women were alone in the bush while giving birth are as individual as the women themselves. Read more.

© Josh Estey/CARE

'I am somebody now': Living with HIV in Bougainville

by Lyrian Fleming, CARE Australia's Education Coordinator

Sylvester Pokona is just 38 years old, but has the life experience of a man much older. A survivor of the Bougainville crisis – the civil war which gripped Bougainville in Papua New Guinea from 1988 to 1990, all the events of his life since then have been impacted by the conflict, including his status as a person living with HIV

When the crisis overtook Bougainville, Sylvester joined the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and was separated from his wife and children. The conflict, which began over a dispute between local landowners and mining company Rio Tinto, tore apart many families in the region as men left their villages to fight, were imprisoned, and sometimes killed. Read more.

© Josh Estey/CARE

Bringing clean, safe water to remote shores in PNG

by Lyrian Fleming, CARE Australia's Education Coordinator

You know you’re headed somewhere off the beaten track when you strap on a life vest and jump in a small boat for a four hour journey across the open sea. As a somewhat nervous seafarer, I couldn’t help but look up at the skies, willing the grey clouds away. I was bound for Nissan Island, a remote coral atoll located 110 kilometers off Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea.

I was visiting Nissan Island to see a CARE Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project which is bringing access to clean water and toilets to the six thousand people who call this island home. The harsh irony of Nissan Island is that this beautiful coral atoll is surrounded by water as far as the eye can see, but when the rain doesn’t fall, the six thousand people who call the island home are left with nothing to drink. Read more.

Rural poverty in remote PNG  

© Josh Estey/CARE

CARE Australia has released a unique but bleak report, Rural Poverty in Remote Papua New Guinea, which provides a detailed statistical snapshot of life for remote communities in rural Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The report, which is a result of collaboration between CARE Australia and the Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre, highlights the ongoing issue of disadvantage in an area which is home to 15 percent of the country’s population.

There has, up until now, been little data of this nature focused on these remote areas and this report highlights the situation and the importance of reaching those remote communities. The report examines research going back almost 40 years and draws on five influential studies which suggest a strong regional disadvantage and show relatively little change in the poorest areas over this time. Read more.