St Mary’s School of Nursing is located in Vunapope in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea. St Mary’s School of Nursing offers a Diploma in General Nursing program that leads to registration as professional nurses by the Nursing Council of Papua New Guinea. The program is designed to prepare beginning practitioners who are able to provide safe, competent and responsible nursing care in a variety of health care settings. The program in underpinned by the Nursing Competency Standards for Papua New Guinea (2002) which cover the domains of professional and ethical practice, critical thinking and analysis, communication, management and leadership, management of client care, public health and health promotion, and partnership with community and services. The PNG National Health Plan 2011–2020 directs the health sector improvement for the next ten years of this longer–term strategy and vision. The health of the people and health services are in crisis, and together as partners this plan commits us to strategies aimed at achieving our goal of: Strengthening primary health care for all, and improved service delivery for the rural majority and urban disadvantaged. In many ways, the state of our health system requires a ‘back to basics’ approach in the coming ten years. Strengthening our primary health care approach will be paramount in reversing this country’s deteriorating health indicators. It is essential that those at the front line of health service delivery are equipped with necessary facilities, supplies, equipment, and training. The health sector’s most important resource, the health sector work force, works under trying conditions
The training of nurses is essential to serve the needs of the nation to strengthen primary health care for all and improve service delivery particularly to the rural majority and urban disadvantaged. Following are developments in health care services that have led to the latest National Health Plan.
Prioritises the needs to improve child survival, improve maternal health, reduce the burden of communicable diseases, promote healthier lifestyles, and improve our preparedness for disease outbreaks and emerging population health threats. Christian churches and the preparation of health workers Papua New Guinea has had a diversity of training programs, starting with the arrival of Christian missions in the late 1800s and the informal training of health workers by missionaries. The preparation of health workers has continued with the emergence of independent churches, their health services and the education of health workers to provide services, particularly in the rural areas. Governments have consulted with the churches on the planning of training programs for the various cadres of health workers such as aid post orderly, maternal and child health nurse, certificate and registered nurses, community health worker and post graduate nursing programs. Health and health services
In 1978 the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the primary health care approach to health care delivery with the slogan “Health for All by the Year 2000” and this was incorporated into the government’s health plan 2001-2010. The traditional health services such as disease prevention, health promotion, maternal and child care and curative services were included in services but agriculture, food, industry, education, housing, public works and communication sectors also needed to be involved. In 1998, the promotion of the Healthy Island concept encouraged people to take more responsibility for their own health. The PNG National Health Plan (2001-2010) stressed that the health of the people, in particular women and children, was not improving. They were dying from easily preventable and treatable diseases. 15,000 babies less than one year old die each year and 3,700 mothers die each year from complications of childbirth (NHP 2001-2010 p. 3). The principles of primary health care and the Healthy Islands concept are excellent, but the evidence at the end of 2000 showed that the health of people in PNG had not improved, and, in fact had deteriorated. Other problems according to the NHP 2001-2010 were limited resources and inefficient management; inadequate accessibility to basic health services; poor community support for health services; and lack of encouragement and assistance in health maintenance and improvement.
In light of the above, the Ministry of Health (NHP p. 9) set a goal to improve health for all Papua New Guineans through development of a health system that is responsive, effective, affordable, acceptable and accessible to the majority of the people. The challenge is to empower individuals, family and communities to take responsibility for their health and involve all levels of government and other partners to work together as a nation towards achieving the goal of the National Health plan. Nurses and Community Health Workers comprise the majority of health workers, with nurses having a major part in providing health services as well as in supervising community health workers. A Ministerial Advisory Committee outlined measures to address the problems of the health system including the following priorities (NHP, p. xii): to increase services to the rural majority; expand health promotion and preventive services; reorganise and restructure the national health system; develop staff professional, technical and management skills; upgrade and maintain investment in health infrastructure.
New approach and focus for nursing education
A new approach and focus for nursing education was introduced in the mid-1990s whereby nurse education programs were upgraded from certificate to diploma level and linked with universities. In the interests of quality assurance the Commission of Higher Education developed procedures by which institutions of higher learning, such as the nursing schools, could have their programs accredited by a university. There are nine accreditation standards, which in brief are: institutional integrity (having a public image of honesty and respectability); purpose (including vision and mission statements); governance and administration; educational programs; academic and non-academic staff (having policies, procedures and processes governing the recruitment, retention, promotion and retirement of staff who must be appropriately qualified for the positions they hold in the institution); learning resources (including library and ICT resources); student pastoral care services, sports and recreational facilities; physical facilities to support teaching and learning such as lecture rooms, laboratories, buildings, equipment and machinery as appropriate; financial resources (having sufficient assets and sources of funds to sustain the life of the institution. The institution submits documents or material evidence that is deemed relevant such as governance or policy handbooks, program handbooks and/or program specification documents.
The Diploma in General Nursing program is premised on the belief that preparation of graduates at diploma level for professional nursing practice requires theoretical breadth and depth balanced by appropriate and relevant clinical experience to prepare the graduates for nursing practice at first level nursing positions and ongoing employment in Papua New Guinea health care services and for registration with the Nursing Council of Papua New Guinea (NCPNG).Therefore the program aims to:
Provide students with coherent and detailed knowledge of contemporary nursing practice and the principles and concepts that underpin that practice as well as enabling them to think critically, to reflect on their practice and to make sound clinical judgments based on evidence, which prepares the students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable them to function effectively as health workers in any setting.
Provide an educational and professional basis for advanced education in nursing practice, teaching, administration and research.
The Diploma in General nursing program is aimed at people with a grade 12 certificate. Some may come from the health services that have certificate in nursing. The program provides the opportunity for them to gain a nursing qualification for increased credibility as registered nurses. The clinical content of the program recognizes and aims to develop students’ competence, confidence and motivation for best practice. The theoretical content is based on strong evidence gleaned from recognised sources.
Local Partnerships Nonga General Hospital Divine Word University Nursing Council of Papua New Guinea National Department of Health Australian Awards PNG
This Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program is designed as a five (5) year program to produce doctors with a commitment and clinical competency to serve the population of Papua New Guinea. The first year is called Health Science Foundation (HSF) program and it is designed to produce graduates with basic knowledge of basic and premedical sciences. It is intended to be a bridging program between secondary school and university giving the students baseline knowledge in basic and premedical sciences including molecular biology, chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology. The HSF program aims also to advance critical thinking skills and improve academic writing skills as well as develop basic skills in the use of online technologies in learning. Upon completion of this program students will also be able to discuss ethical aspects of leading dilemmas in bioethics.
The National Health Plan 2011-2020, the country’s sixth Plan since Independence, is an important roadmap for the PNG Health Sector. Two important aspects of this Plan are human resource development and improved service delivery, especially, delivery to where the majority of the population lives, in rural areas and urban settlements. It is here that the health services face their most severe challenges with inadequate numbers of doctors to serve the needs of the population. And therefore, this program, while preparing general practitioners able to work on various positions in the PNG health sector and to pursue development in various medical specialization, it also emphasizes adequate generalist training in the rural setting and thus preparing graduates to serve the most disadvantaged rural population.
Mission statement of MBBS program
To produce competent medical professionals imbued with Christian ethical values and sensitivity to the needs of the least privileged rural populations of PNG.
The largest nation in the Pacific, PNG, is classified as a low middle-income country. Nearly 87% percent of the population lives in rural areas but access to these widely scattered communities is often difficult and expensive. Violence against women and the achieving of gender equality remain further major challenges. The country is a signatory to the United Nations Millennium Development Declaration which requires upgrading of health status of PNG population.
The major health problems currently affecting PNG according to the World Health Organization (2016) are:
communicable diseases, with malaria, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, and acute respiratory disease the major causes of morbidity and mortality,
a generalized HIV epidemic driven mainly by heterosexual transmission,
high rates of infant and child mortality when compared to other countries in the Asia Pacific region,
very high maternal mortality,
increasing burden of non-communicable diseases including trauma resulting in a double burden of disease on the country,
numerous challenges in addressing the diverse socio-cultural determinants of health.
Although at some time in the past majority of districts had resident medical officers or regular visits of provincial doctors, gradually a major shift of doctors to urban centers has occurred. As a result of the process of urbanization of the medical workforce, at present, PNG is experiencing an extreme shortage of doctors at the district level. Current analysis has shown that out of 89 districts the majority have no permanent medical presence.
Long queues at hospitals, overcrowding, unacceptably low health worker to population ratios, and an ageing of the work force, call for more quality health professionals for health service delivery to all Papua New Guineans. Given the human resource challenges, limited access to health services for the rural majority and limited numbers of doctors to serve rural locations in Papua New Guinea, there is an urgent need to train more doctors.
Increasing population growth, impacts of new and emerging diseases, and changing patterns of behavior leading to more lifestyle-related illness, continue to outpace the human resource capacity of the health sector to respond effectively to the needs of the people... Combined with the declining state of health facilities and the inability of health services to meet the needs of the population, these factors have had a significant negative effect on the morale of health workers. (Government of Papua New Guinea, 2010, p 15)
Our programs go in line with the Papua New Guinea Vision 2050 (Government of Papua New Guinea, 2009) and the PNG Development Strategic Plan 2010-2030 (Government of Papua New Guinea, 2010) which give prominence to human capital development and argue that higher education is crucial for supplying the skilled workforce that is required for the country’s development and that no nation has become prosperous without developing a highly skilled workforce.
The PNG Universities’ Review Report (Namaliu & Garnaut, 2010, p13) expressed concern about the quality of educational experiences that students receive. This MBBS program has been developed with input from international experts and will be supported by high quality human resources, infrastructure and teaching and learning resources. DWU is committed to use all available resources to continuously build up the capacity and quality of the medical program, continuously benchmarking the offered MBBS program to the world standards in the medical education.
Welcome to the Public Health Leadership and Training Department
The Public Health Leadership and Training Department offers postgraduate and undergraduate programs in flexible learning mode.
The Master of Public Health (MPH) program is designed as a two-and-a-half-year program to contribute to the education of health professionals at postgraduate level, so that they can contribute effectively to improvement of the health and wellbeing of populations in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The MPH program is designed to equip students with the ability to apply knowledge, skills and critical understanding of current public health themes, principles and values to provide leadership and management capacity for public health practice. It aims to graduate health professionals who have advanced knowledge and understanding of health issues of populations and how effectively to intervene, to strengthen people-centered health systems and improve health and wellbeing.
The MPH program covers a wide range of topics so that students will develop an in-depth understanding of public health including advanced analytical and communication skills. The program maintains a strong focus on people-centered health systems and services to reduce inequity in health care access and health outcomes, as well as improve population health status. For this reason, this MPH has a focus on concepts of public health, and the need to research and develop interventions to improve public health outcomes in Papua New Guinea.
The students are expected to engage in self-directed learning, show initiative and read broadly throughout the program, to develop an advanced level of critical thinking and independent analytical skills.
The MPH is aimed at those who plan a career as leaders in public health and management positions in governmental, non-governmental and church-based health organizations.
The largest nation in the Pacific, PNG, is classified as a low middle-income country. Nearly 87% percent of the population lives in rural areas but access to these widely scattered communities is often difficult and expensive. Violence against women and the achieving of gender equality remain major challenges. The country is a signatory to the United Nations Millennium Development Declaration which requires upgrading of the health status of the PNG population.
The PNG Vision 2050 states that adequately trained doctors and health personnel are essential and should be based in every district in Papua New Guinea. The MPH-HSM program is designed in line with the Papua New Guinea Vision 2050 (Government of Papua New Guinea, 2009) and the PNG Development Strategic Plan 2010-2030 (Government of Papua New Guinea, 2010), which give prominence to human capital development and argue that higher education is crucial for supplying the skilled workforce that is required for the country’s development and that no nation has become prosperous without developing a highly skilled workforce.
Since Public Health is concerned with the promotion and maintenance of health and wellbeing it focusses on populations rather than individuals. Populations are defined by factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, occupation and socio-economic situations. The MPH-HSM program contributes to the Plan by training specialised and qualified public health practitioners to meet the demands of populations in both rural and urban areas in PNG.
This training ensures that public health personnel (who may initially be trained in a variety of fields, including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, health management, environmental health, rural health, human development, and sociology) can work together effectively to provide comprehensive team-based public health practice and formulate and enact public health policies at national and provincial health service level in Papua New Guinea (PNG Government Vision 2050).
The goal of the National Health Plan 2011 – 2020 is to strengthen primary health care and improve health service delivery for the rural majority and urban disadvantaged populations. There is a need for specialised health professionals with advanced knowledge and skills to identify and implement strategies to strengthen a people-centred health system in order to reduce inequity in health care access and health outcomes. The MPH-HSM program contributes to the expressed need to train health professionals with the leadership abilities, knowledge and skills to critically appraise public health issues and identify how to intervene to strengthen people-centred health systems and improve health and wellbeing.
Thus, the overall learning objective of the MPH-HSM program focuses on preparing graduates to identify and appraise strategies to strengthen the people-centred health system at local, district, provincial and national level relevant to improving health outcomes as well as population health and wellbeing. These strategies take into account management approaches in dynamic systems, financing, human resources and their social, epidemiological, cultural, economic and political setting. To accomplish this, the MPH-HSM curriculum is based on a people-centred health systems strengthening approach to critically research health issues and act on appropriate solutions to improve access to health care of rural and urban disadvantaged populations in PNG.
The development of the MPH program aligns with other universities around the globe that provide master degrees in public health with streams in health services management, health promotion, health economics, epidemiology, primary health care and public health research as well as international public health. These universities include Griffith University, James Cook University, Flinders University, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
Local Partnerships National Department of Health, PNG Medical Board Nursing Council of Papua New Guinea
International Partnerships CAPHIA _ Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia Bread for the World, (Germany)
Physiotherapy in PNG is to prevent, manage and reduce the magnitude of disability. The predisposing factors that stipulated the need for physiotherapy training are natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunami, conditions such as Pott’s, meningitis, cerebrovascular accidents, tuberculosis, malaria, road traffic accidents, fall, domestic violence and burns which results in various physical impairments and disabilities.
Physiotherapy is a science-based health care profession and takes a ‘whole person’ approach to health and wellbeing, which includes the patient’s general lifestyle. Physiotherapists help people affected by injury, illness or disability through movement and exercise, manual therapy, education and advice as well as maintain health for people of all ages, helping patients to manage pain and prevent disease. The profession helps to encourage development and facilitate recovery, enabling people to stay in work while helping them to remain independent for as long as possible. Physiotherapists work in a variety of specialisms in health and social care. Additionally, some physiotherapists are involved in education, research and service management (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, London). The Physiotherapy program aims to educate students for the profession of physiotherapy. People in PNG who may benefit from physiotherapy assistance include people with amputations, brain damage, spinal cord injury, Cerebral Palsy, clubfeet, Spinabifida, poliomyelitis, leprosy, burns, nerve or tendon damage, also who have joint pains, back and neck problems or sports injuries.
The department was established within the Faculty of Health Sciences (now Faculty of Medicine nd Heath Sciences) in 2002 with a Diploma in Physiotherapy program. Initially the program was designed with bi-annual intake and focused especially on rural rehabilitation. The first cohort graduated in 2006, since then the department has established a national virtuous reputation for its quality and excellence through teaching, learning and research. Prior to the establishment of the program the nationals had to go overseas for their training and until 2006 there were only two national physiotherapist and volunteers were providing the service to meet the unmet needs in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The education program has upgraded to degree level in 2008 and now, nearly 150 physiotherapists were trained.
Vision:
Promote Healthy Wellbeing in line with university Core Values through excellence in Teaching and Learning, Research and Community Engagement
Mission:
To educate upcoming and graduated national physiotherapist with physiotherapy skills, advance techniques, leadership, research, contribute to the communities, exchange of knowledge and application to improve health, prevent disability and encourage movement.
The program aims to train national physiotherapist with a degree in physiotherapy. The structure of the program aimed to meet the national and international framework of physiotherapy. A physiotherapist should be an autonomous by profession, who has the theoretical and practical knowledge and the attitude to assess, treat and advise patients, without regard to their age, race, sex, and sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs. By doing so he/she supports people with disabilities to obtain equal rights and opportunities. Divine Word University provides a religiously oriented and socially conscious environment. While becoming professionally competent, students are encouraged to examine the ethical aspects of their profession. Bachelor of Physiotherapy emphasizes continuous learning, creativity and skills necessary for problem solving in an environment with limited resources. The program encourages questioning and critical thinking, to enable students and graduates to constructively contribute to health care within multi-disciplinary teams in a socially responsible manner.
The challenges confronting the PNG healthcare system are well documented with many of these challenges stemming directly from inadequate management capacity. Tordoff (1987) pointed out that the lack of well qualified and experienced personnel at senior and middle levels in Papua New Guinea has been an important constraint on development. He also said that at the time of decentralization (in 1977), this was particularly true of the health sector, where competent, experienced health managers were few in number and management training opportunities limited.[1]
In addition, Kolehmainen-Aitken (1992) saw that for decentralization to succeed, provincial staff must be equipped with sufficient management skills. [2]She wrote that health worker training became the main avenue by which the Department of Health could influence the standards of health services in the provinces. She also said that training an adequate number of competent provincial health managers was the obvious first priority for the PNG Health service.
A report titled: A review of health leadership and management capacity in Papua New Guinea written by Augustine Asante and John Hall from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales and published in 2011 again highlighted the need for training in administration and management in the PNG Health Care system. They said:
“The health management and leadership capacity in PNG has been a source of concern for many years and several initiatives have been taken to improve it but with little success. In general, the competence of health managers, especially at the local level, remains weak. Health extension officers (HEOs) who are largely involved in managing the district health service do not seem to have sufficient managerial skills for the task they are expected to perform. Although the majority of HEOs have adequate formal education with a four-year bachelor degree, questions have been raised as to whether there is sufficient management focus in their training to enable them to become good local managers.”[3]
Successive national health plans by the PNG Government have also documented the issues: National Health Plan 1996-2000; National Health Plan 2001-2010 and the current National Health Plan 2011-2020. Even the World Health Organisations points out that there is a misdistribution of specialist clinical and technical skills where 30% of skilled health professionals occupy administrative and management positions (WHO, 2013)[4]. In fact, the health management and leadership challenges faced by PNG are not unique but mirror the challenges faced by many low-income countries (Asante and Hall 2011).
The aim of the Health Management program is to train undergraduate students to become qualified health managers to address the health care needs of Papua New Guinea through the National Health Plan and to meet the high demand of qualified health managers in the PNG Health Care System. This undergraduate program aims to serve society through quality teaching, learning, research and community engagement in a Christian environment. The program is aligned with the DWU 30 year Strategic Plans, National Health Plan 2011-2020, PNG Medium Term Development Plan 2010-2030 and PNG Vision 2050.
[1]Tordoff, W. (1987).Issues in decentralization in Papua New Guinea, Journal of Commonwealth
and Comparative Politics, 25(1), 42-70.
[2]Riitta-LiisaKolehmainen-Aitken (1992). The impact of decentralization on health workforce development in Papua New Guinea, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 12, page 175-191
[3] Asante, A., and Hall, J., (2011). A review of health leadership and management capacity in Papua New Guinea, Human Resources for Health Knowledge Hub, University of New south Wales: Sydney.
The Bachelor of Health Management program of Divine Word University (DWU) is a response to the national need for ethical, confident and competent managers of health facilities and health projects who are able to cope with the diversity of conditions in PNG’s changing health system.
Divine Word University, in recognizing this need for trained health managers, began offering programs in health management (previously called health administration), in 1998 through funding from AusAID. The program provides education that combines acknowledged local expertise in business, communication and finance and accounting, with international expertise in health services management education.
The PNG Medium Term Development Plan 2011-2015 acknowledges the huge challenges PNG faces in terms of rebuilding and up skilling the nation’s health workforce to combat rising negative health indicators. This, however, has not stopped DWU from providing this essential course. A review of the Papua New Guinea Health Sector in 2004 praised DWU’s contribution acknowledged DWU’s contribution towards training health managers and described the University as a ‘new actor’ in the landscape for tertiary health education and training in PNG (Mandie-Filer, Bolger, and Hauck 2004)[1]. The Health Management course, when started in 1998, was known as Health Administration and began with a Certificate Level which was a one year program. Then it progressed to a two year Diploma in Health Administration and then in 2001 began the four year Bachelor in Health Management Program. Its graduates now work in the National Government health System, NGOs and the Church Health System all over the country.
The current BHM program is progressively observing other universities around the world that provide a qualification in Health Administration, Health Care Administration, Health Service Management, Health Care Administration to benchmark thus improving quality of the research, teaching and learning in the DWU program. These universities include Columbia Southern University[2], Curtin University of Technology[3], La Trobe University[4], Australian Catholic University[5], Monash University[6]. From observing the programs of many of these universities, it can be stated the DWU Health Management undergraduate degree is one of very few health management courses delivered at the undergraduate level. This is because the majority of the health management courses taken in these overseas universities are delivered at postgraduate level only.
Today there are just over 100 students in the Bachelor program from year one to year four. Each year, DWU graduates around 25 Health Management students to enter the PNG workforce. The Health Management Program in Divine Word University provides competent and qualified health managers for the PNG workforce ultimately to help fulfill the National Health Plan 2011-2020. This Plan emphasizes strengthening primary health care services delivery and aligns its objectives with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Its values stated explicitly include equity, gender and people-centeredness. The National Health Plan states that increasing universal health coverage and equity in access for the rural majority and the urban poor is the first and most important objective. The National Health Service Standards for Papua New Guinea 2011-2020 outline a seven (7) level health service delivery structure and systematically describe a package of health services and the number, types and mix of staff that should be provided at each level of health care. The BHM takes account of these Standards.
[1]Mandie-Filer, A, Bolger, J. and V. Hauck.(2004).Papua New Guinea’s health sector - A review of capacity, change and performance issues.
Promote quality Health Education in line with DWU Core Values through excellence in Learning and Teaching, Research and Community Engagement.
MISSION
Train competent Health Professionals for the needs of the nation and in particular for the rural majority and urban disadvantaged in accordance with the PNG National Health Plan 2011-2020 and PNG Vision 2050.
Divine Word University’s Core Values, as articulated in the University Charter and also expressed in its Vision and Mission statements, are at the heart of Divine Word University’s academic and non-academic programs and its philosophy. These values provide a framework for the University’s development and enliven the University's identity, the University’s heritage and its commitment to knowledge for holistic, personal development and social progress.
Integrity- offers to the University the ability to realize the Christian values and maintain the highest academic standards by upholding academic policies. It promotes the University strategic objectives and its Vision by emphasizing holistic education at the University and encouraging a consistency of actions and values.
Academic Excellence – DWU is committed to quality of research, learning and teaching for every individual learner. DWU’s diverse academic faculties with a qualified academic staff, in collaboration with international academics and universities, promotes critical thinking for staff and students who are engaged in learning, research, and creativity. Thus, DWU stimulates academic and personal leadership for staff and students with a spirit of ethical values and personal discipline.
Community Engagement/Service – commits the DWU Community to follow the example of the Divine Word to utilize our gifts, talents and abilities to advance the genuine well-being of the people we encounter in our community and the nation.
Respect– the DWU Community respects every person’s dignity, background and potential, and appreciates and respects the right to express diverse ideas with a freedom of academic enquires.
Diversity – the University’s Founders were from a different cultural and social background. Diversity nurtures an international academic community within the university that fosters a culture that is open and welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds, and promotes ideas and perspectives that engages the faculty, staff and students in academic and non-academic activities in an educational environment, and prepares the students to live and work in an international society within a global economy.
Hospitality- at DWU we attend to our daily duties with a spirit of openness and kindness that welcomes new ideas and people with a diversity of backgrounds and beliefs. We receive and value our visitors with divergent ideas and new insights and challenges.
Learning for Life – DWU is committed to providing opportunities to staff and students for personal growth in an environment that supports the development of discipline, ethical decision- making, and personal responsibility.
Social Responsibility - DWU is committed to equity, social justice, and diversity, and maintains the highest standards of integrity in our relationships with others.DWU is an institution that serves as a resource for and stimulus to social, economic, educational, cultural, environmental, and community development in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific.
The Faculty of Health Sciences Strategic Objectives fall in place accordingly to the strategic directions of Divine Word University. The Strategic objectives shall serve as the framework for the development of our Faculty programs, activities and strategies:
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
The University’s first strategic objective is to enhance the student experience. Academic and non-academic experience of students at DWU aims at producing graduates academically qualified, with life skills, competencies and sound philosophy of life based on Christian values. Seeking to continually improve the student experience must be what will drive much of DWU’s efforts and actions. Academic and non-academic experience of students at DWU aims at producing graduates academically qualified, with life skills, competencies and sound philosophy of life based on Christian values. Seeking to continually improve the student experience must be what will drive much of DWU’s efforts and actions.
STRATEGIC OBJECTVE 2: PROMOTING QUALITY OF DISTINCTIVE PROGRAMS
The University’s second strategic objective is to promote the quality of distinctive academic programs. Responding to the changing needs and demands of the public and private sectors and developments that will be required towards the achievement of Vision 2050, all academic and nonacademic programs offered at the University must be of quality and prepare graduates for the future.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: SUPPORTING HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
The University’s third strategic objective is to support high quality research and knowledge exchange. DWU has to focus its research activities within the faculties, attract active researchers who can publish in international journals, attend international symposiums and contribute to the new body of knowledge. All University program specification documents have to be annually updated through research. DWU has to establish a culture of research and engage in partnership with overseas researchers.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: CAPITALIZE ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTNERSHIP
The University’s fourth strategic objective is to capitalize on opportunities for partnerships. Details can be found in the Strategic Plan 2006-2016. Each faculty of the University is strongly encouraged to establish partnership with other universities overseas and within the country.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 5: OPTIMIZING THE CONTRIBUTION OF STAFF
The University’s fifth strategic objective is to optimize the contributions of our staff. Each academic staff at the University ought to perform the following duties: teaching, research, administrative work and community engagement.
The University’s sixth strategic objective is to maximize organizational effectiveness. The University is a national institution on a continuing quest for excellence through effective, integrated systems and performance management. We need to optimize the output of the University’s talent and capabilities through operating as a single organization with one financial plan, one marketing strategy and one set of funding priorities, sharing resources, ICT technologies, staff allocation and admin support to promote collaboration and interaction between faculties, divisions and campuses across the whole University.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 7: MAKING THE MOST OF OUR ASSETS
The University’s seventh strategic objective is to make the most of our assets. Staff are the most important asset for any university. The extent to which they maximize the effectiveness of their time and their use of available physical resources determines the overall significance of the Faculty offering. All University staff and students should feel responsible for proper use of all DWU assets such as lecture rooms, auditoriums, dormitories, staff houses, ICT equipment, vehicles and all other assets of the University.
The program aims to provide quality teaching, learning, research and community engagement as it serves the community and society in a transparent and Christian environment. The program is well aligned with the university’s strategic plans, the PNG Vision 2050, the National Health Plan 2011 to 2020. Emphasis is placed on the management, improvement and promotion of environmental health infrastructures that safe guard public’s health in the five (5) key areas of environmental health including food safety, water quality, safe housing, environmental protection, occupational health and public health.
The Bachelor of Environmental Health program is designed to meet the workforce need of Papua New Guinea, in the local, national and private industry, through quality training of Environmental Health Officers/Practitioners who are capable of executing advisory, consultancy and leadership roles in the environmental health discipline including food, water, land, air climate change and infrastructure. The course caters for environmental protection and sustainability issues raised in the United Nations Development Goals. According to WHO (2013), it is estimated that roughly 25 percent of the disease burden in the developing world is due to environmental factors. E.g., 1.9 million people, primarily children, died in 2004 from inadequate access to clean water and sanitation and 2 million people, mostly women and children, die each year from exposure to indoor air pollution from cooking with solid fuels such as wood, dung, and charcoal. The program is also in line with the PNG Vision 2050 which addresses the strategies for strategic focus area five on environmental sustainability and climate change including: increase access to clean water from 39 percent to 100 percent of the population, provide assistance to the community members to become resilient to natural and human disasters and environmental changes and integrating of environmental sustainability and climate change studies in the curricula. The National Health Plan 2011-2020 with specific emphasis on the strengthening of primary health care. The PSD has tried to incorporate some of the objectives and strategies for Key Result Area 7; promoting healthy lifestyle. These involves the reducing the number of outbreaks of food and water borne diseases and increase number of investigations of disease outbreaks in communities.
Local Partnerships Waterpng Ltd Fimali Ltd British American Tobacco Ltd MULLG World Vision Madang Madang Provincial Health Madang Provincial Government RD Tuna Canners Ltd
International Partnerships Pacific Island Countries ( Fiji, Solomon Is) QUT, Brisbane Australia Flinders University, Adelaide Australia
