College of Medicine and Dentistry Make a difference in PNG
Make a difference in PNG
- Future Students
- JCU Global Experience
- International Students
- Open Day
- How to apply
- Pathways to university
- Virtual Open Day
- Living on Campus
- Courses
- Publications
- Scholarships
- Parents and Partners
- JCU Heroes Programs
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Marine Science
- Elite Athletes
- Defence
- Current Students
- New students
- JCU Orientation
- LearnJCU
- Placements
- CEE
- Unicare Centre and Unicampus Kids
- Graduation
- Off-Campus Students
- JCU Job Ready
- Safety and Wellbeing
- JCU Prizes
- Professional Experience Placement
- Employability Edge
- Art of Academic Writing
- Art of Academic Editing
- Careers and Employability
- Student Equity and Wellbeing
- Career Ready Plan
- Careers at JCU
- Partners and Community
- JCU-CSIRO Partnership
- Alumni
- About JCU
- Reputation and Experience
- Chancellery
- Governance
- Celebrating 50 Years
- Academy
- Indigenous Engagement
- Education Division
- Graduate Research School
- Research and Teaching
- Research Division
- Research and Innovation Services
- CASE
- College of Business, Law and Governance
- College of Healthcare Sciences
-
College of Medicine and Dentistry
-
Research
-
Project Portal
- CMD research project asset list
- Chronic Pelvic Pain Faecal Microbiome Study
- Service delivery strategies for rural/ remote allied health
- TREAD: Translational Research in Endocrinology and Diabetes 'Multiple projects'
- Australia's burden from peripheral artery disease
- Glucose control and outcome of peripheral revascularisation
- Outcome for abdominal aortic aneurysm admissions across Australia
- Diet and vascular disease
- Genetics of abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Biomarkers of aortic aneurysm and peripheral artery disease outcome
- Testing novel treatments for peripheral artery disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Clinical trials of novel treatments for peripheral artery disease, diabetes-related foot disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Multiple projects in Microbiology and infectious Diseases
- Piloting a continuous quality improvement framework to strengthen quality of care in Aboriginal residential aged care.
- Strengthening primary health care to promote healthy ageing and reduce risk factors associated with dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Multiple research opportunities in Psychiatry
- The role of partner dancing on biopsychosocial status of older adults and their significant others
-
Project Portal
- News & Stories
- Get Involved
- Short Courses & Professional Development
- Clinical Electives for Non-JCU students
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Pharmacy
- Making Rural Health Matter
- General Practice and Rural Medicine
- Northern Queensland Regional Training Hubs
- Contact us
- Learning and Teaching
-
Research
- College of Science and Engineering
- CPHMVS
- Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audiovisual Research (ALTAR)
- Anton Breinl Research Centre
- Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre (AgTAC)
- Advanced Analytical Centre
- AMHHEC
- Aquaculture Solutions
- AusAsian Mental Health Research Group
- ARCSTA
- Area 61
- Lions Marine Research Trust
- Australian Tropical Herbarium
- Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group
- Boating and Diving
- Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab
- Centre for Tropical Biosecurity
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology
- CITBA
- CMT
- Centre for Disaster Solutions
- CSTFA
- Cyclone Testing Station
- The Centre for Disaster Studies
- Daintree Rainforest Observatory
- Fletcherview
- JCU Eduquarium
- JCU Turtle Health Research
- Language and Culture Research Centre
- MARF
- Orpheus
- TESS
- JCU Ideas Lab
- TARL
- eResearch
- Indigenous Education and Research Centre
- Estate
- Work Health and Safety
- Staff
- Discover Nature at JCU
- Cyber Security Hub
- Association of Australian University Secretaries
- Services and Resources Division
- Environmental Research Complex [ERC]
- Foundation for Australian Literary Studies
- Gender Equity Action and Research
- General Practice and Rural Medicine
- Give to JCU
- Indigenous Legal Needs Project
- Inherent Requirements
- IsoTropics Geochemistry Lab
- IT Services
- JCU Webinars
- JCU Events
- JCU Motorsports
- JCU Sport
- Library
- Mabo Decision: 30 years on
- Marine Geophysics Laboratory
- Office of the Vice Chancellor and President
- Outstanding Alumni
- Pharmacy Full Scope
- Planning for your future
- Policy
- PAHL
- Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Rapid Assessment Unit
- RDIM
- Researcher Development Portal
- Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing
- Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
- State of the Tropics
- Strategic Procurement
- Student profiles
- SWIRLnet
- TREAD
- TropEco for Staff and Students
- TQ Maths Hub
- TUDLab
- UAV
- VAVS Home
- WHOCC for Vector-borne & NTDs
- Media
- Copyright and Terms of Use
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
- Pay review
You’ve done the Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine degree at JCU - now how can you apply what you have learnt? Two JCU alumni doctors - Dr Merrilee Frankish and Dr Matt Kelly found Australian Doctors International (ADI) the answer. ADI is an Australian charity that works to strengthen health services in rural and remote areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG was selected for ADI’s focus as it is a close neighbour of Australia with significant health needs that we’re in a position to help with.
Doctors Merrilee Frankish and Matt Kelly are both graduates of JCU and have taken time out of their practice to volunteer with ADI and put their interest in tropical medicine to good use.
Dr Merrilee, now a JCU GP Training Supervisor in Mareeba, first volunteered with ADI in 2012 where she was stationed in New Ireland Province. New Ireland is an isolated group of islands in north-east PNG where about 194,000 people live. Thirty-two percent of the population are in paid employment and 68% live a subsistence lifestyle, mainly by selling local produce at local markets. Merrilee shares some of her experience on the ADI website.
Of her experience with ADI Dr Merrilee said: “Working in PNG enabled me to get back to the basics of who I am and what I can do. The tropics, public health and PNG are a personal passion- including tok pisin. I was pushed to my limits and I was able to achieve more than I could imagine for people who have less resources than I will ever know. The highlight was the teaching and great practical retention of people I had helped educate- year after year.”
Dr Matt has just embarked on his adventure with ADI this July, and is off to Western Province, PNG. Western Province is the largest and most remote province in PNG. With few roads and travel by river and air made difficult by the high cost of fuel (about twice the cost of fuel in Australia), Western Province suffers major challenges to the delivery and accessibility of health services and it’s not uncommon for the locals to not see a doctor all year.
Each year ADI takes a maximum of five doctors for placements in either New Ireland or Western Province. Doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals are drawn to ADI as it is able to achieve great outcomes for rural and remote communities. Even though PNG is our closest neighbour it struggles to combat diseases such as malaria, leprosy, and tuberculosis. Only about one third of the rural population has access to clean water, making cholera and diarrhoeal diseases a continuing threat. Another health challenge is delivering proper antenatal care, family planning and safe and supervised births to rural and remote areas where 87 per cent of the population reside. As a result, infant and maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world.
As an ADI professional on the frontline you have responsibility to treat and train. A core focus of ADI is capacity building so when our team leaves we leave the healthcare workers in PNG with better skills to be more self sufficient. It’s important to note that ADI doctors do not work alone. It really is a team effort.
In New Ireland, the doctor travels with teams of PNG district health staff including a dental technician, physiotherapist, maternity and child health nurse, eye nurse, sexual health and lab technician. In Western Province, the team is much smaller with the doctor travelling with one-two Community Health workers and some logistics support.
If you ever wonder where your degree in tropical medicine can take you, then it’s time to consider ADI as a pathway to develop your practice. ADI is a great way to further your skills while helping people who need it most and enjoying an experience of a lifetime. The PNG locals have a fond relationship with ADI doctors and truly appreciate the work they do there. Dr Merrilee said “ADI’s presence here [in PNG] is warmly welcomed in whichever office I enter, thanks to our wonderful previous doctors and ADI’s management team.”
You can take a sneak peek at the experiences of others on the ADI website and take the step to put your degree to practice.