World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Smoking Cessation and Treatment of Tobacco Dependence
Best Practices of Smoking Cessation in the Western Pacific Region
Questionnaire
1. Country / Region
Papua New Guinea
Programme background
2. Name of Programme / Service
I work as an Internal Medicine Physician at Buka General Hospital under the PNG National Department of Health, and I also provide similar services to the Health Department of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
3. Objective(s) of the programme / service (e.g. triggering quit attempt, promoting new activity, provision of cessation services)
I provide clinical services to patients with non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, vascular conditions, and chronic respiratory illnesses. These services are delivered in both outpatient clinic settings and inpatient hospital care.
4. Duration / time period of the programme / service
I have been working in the above program since 2017
5. Target population
Target population is primarily to the general population at Bougainville (Papua New Guinea)
Programme details
6. Please briefly describe the activity(-ies) carried out under the programme / service (e.g. provision of smoking cessation services, campaign to promote/enhance cessation services provision).
The activities provided include:
| a) | Conduct weekly clinic screening and curative management to NCD patients at Buka Hospital. This includes brief counselling on lifestyle factors (eg. Smoking, dietary factors, treatment compliance) |
| b) | At ward service: provide medical care to patients with NCDs with complication that require inpatient care, includes both stable and acute care management |
| c) | Liaise with the Autonomous Bougainville Government on similar activities in their health facilities at both urban and rural communities. This includes patient care, clinics and community awareness with community groups upon request. |
7. What were the factors that contributed to the programme / service establishment?
Factors include:
| a) | The high prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the community contributes significantly to the overall disease burden, making the availability of NCD services essential. |
| b) | National government health standards mandate that NCD services—however minimal—must be provided at the hospital level to ensure baseline care and compliance with public health policy. |
8. Did the programme / service involve other organisation(s) (e.g. non-governmental organisation, professional association, academia)? What were their roles?
The World Health Organization and the PNG Health Department have previously offered PEN courses for NCD and lifestyle-related diseases. However, the last local training was conducted in 2017, and I was not part of that cohort.
Since then, consistent support from other organizations has been minimal. We continue to operate the clinic using whatever local resources are available.
9. Please briefly describe the resource implications for this programme / service:
| a) | How was/were necessary funding and/or manpower secured? |
|---|---|
| We operate solely within our existing hospital framework, without any additional funding or manpower beyond current resources. | |
| b) | Please briefly describe any use of information technology to implement or facilitate the programme / service |
I have attempted to use software such as Excel and Access to monitor clinic registrations and generate patient reports. However, due to heavy workload, limited training, and lack of external support, I have had to abandon these efforts multiple times over the years. Despite these challenges, I maintain an active record of inpatients admitted to our hospital unit—particularly those with non-communicable diseases and respiratory conditions—using Excel. |
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| c) | Any other special resource required to implement the programme / service? |
| In terms of immediate workable solutions,
a. Nurse / Doctors training in NCD (includes tobacco cessation counselling) clinic measure b. Clinical protocols update in NCD / Tobacco services and case management, these include guideline, definitions, treatments, counselling models c. Workable IT platform to actively monitor our clinic case data d. How to implement these solutions at an urban hospital setting and then extend into peripheral facilities in communities in according to their health facility capabilities |
10. COVID-19
| a) | Please briefly describe any difficulties encountered during the programme / service implementation amid COVID-19. |
|---|---|
During the COVID 19 Pandemic we had multiple challenges:-
(b) Shortage of Medical Staff (c) Increased Severity Among NCD Patients
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| b) | How did you overcome them? |
| We addressed these challenges through basic measures such as streamlining services and seeking support from external organizations. These efforts helped us maintain essential operations despite limited resources and capacity constraints. |
Programme evaluation
11. Was there any evaluation of the programme / service (e.g. quantitative survey, qualitative interview, etc.) conducted?
A PNG Health Department Standards Hospital Survey was conducted in 2022. This activity highlighted our deficiencies at clinic and hospital level, however, admittedly, no tangible actions were seen at clinical levels following this survey
12. What was the impact of the programme / services (e.g. number of smokers who quit)?
Specifically, no data on smoking cessation is recorded, but generally, we monitor our NCD patients and we note that clients or cases compliant to clinics do not develop acute complications
13. How would the evaluation results be used (e.g. improving policy / programmes)?
We would use to advocate on the deficiencies outlined in question 9iii.