Why mobile HIV Aids clinics? 

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a beautiful but geographically rugged place and 85% of the population lives in hard-to-access rural villages. Many of these rural communities have little or no access to medical services. Government medical aid-posts historically provided some medical care, but many have closed down. 

In 2014 HIV-AIDS became an epidemic in PNG with around 1% of the population living with the disease. HIV-AIDS was like a crouching tiger because of the vulnerability of its large rural population due to: a lack of education, widespread illiteracy, sexual behaviour patterns conducive to  spreading the disease, a high incidence of attacks on women, and large-scale mining and agricultural enterprises creating trans-migration of the population. God was weeping because people were weeping.  

In 2016 Mustard Seed Global launched our first mobile HIV-AIDS clinic to help give the rural population a fighting chance. By mid-2019, after it was thought the spread of the disease was contained, figures show a jump in prevalence to 2.0%. Over 120,000 people now live with HIV-AIDS in PNG!

Our work 

A purpose-fitted Toyota Land Cruiser 78 Troop Carrier transports our teams of two nurses, a community officer and a driver to locations inaccessible to normal health services to deliver HIV-AIDS education, testing, counselling and treatment.  Our work is currently focused on poor rural communities near Rabaul in East New Britain Province. 

The Mustard Seed Global HIV-AIDS clinics also treat key resurgent diseases in PNG - malaria, tuberculosis and leprosy and work to reduce the staggering number of birth-related deaths through education, medical care, and distribution of birthing kits.  

 

Since early 2018 our clinics have educated, tested and treated over 7,200 people without normal medical services. 35 tested positive to HIV and received life-changing treatment.    

 

We are currently developing our community-building work at the remote mobile clinic locations to address issues with disadvantaged youth, to develop micro-enterprise opportunities to help families (those living with HIV-AIDS and others) earn a living, and through church planting and other spiritual development. 

 

World Bank Partnership

In mid-2017 Mustard Seed Global entered a partnership with the World Bank to reach out to 7,000 poor rural cocoa farmers with targeted HIV-AIDS and nutrition programs. Based on the effectiveness of our work The World Bank has approached us to partner with them in similar projects in other areas of PNG but we are limited by resources. 

See The World Bank endorsement of our work

 

Suffering at Kerevat Prison  

The provincial government in East New Britain reached out to our mobile clinic to provide medical services to the province's main prison at Kerevat. Hundreds of detainees have been receiving no medical treatment, and many are juveniles crammed in with adults and facing high risk of injury, HIV-AIDS, and serious mental illness and suicide.  

After 16 visits providing medical services to the prison further opportunities to help these juvenile detainees are being discussed with the government.

Read more 

  

Saving Lives

This little girl has just turned 2 and her mum is alive - she is one of the lucky ones. Five women die in childbirth every day in PNG often from infections or complications giving birth in remote villages. Some make it to hospital to find there are no beds or medicine and give birth on a concrete floor in the foyer. The UN Development Plan estimates 5.5% of babies in PNG die before age 2. 

This little girl is also lucky because her mum has just tested negative for HIV-AIDS. Many women in PNG live in fear that they will contract the disease from their husbands but cannot refuse sex for fear of serious physical violence and harm. Their babies are also at risk.  

Please help us continue this story

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