Technical Support Activities - In Brief

Papua New Guinea

Dr. Praema Raghavan-Gilbert, Adviser on Reproductive Health (RH) and Gender visited Papua New Guinea from 12-16 October. The mission’s three components were: first, to provide technical assistance to UNFPA and DOH in strengthening the operationaliza-tion of the AusAID Women & Children project by exploring areas of collaboration particularly in family planning, and to mainstream gender concerns in RH services.

Women in the Highlands in Papua New Guinea

Second, working with the key women’s organisations in PNG to reach a consensus on sensitizing men to gender issues and to improve the quality of male involvement in RH. The last component was to provide the women’s organisations with a more structured approach to achieving these goals in their programme activities.

Samoa

Solomon Islands

The Adviser on RH and Gender undertook a mission to the Solomon Islands from 25 October – 8 November. The first week of the mission had two objectives: familiarization with RH and Gender programmes, and serving as a resource person on "Quality of Care and Gender" at the National Workshop for senior nursing supervisors from all ten provinces.

During the second week, the Adviser was a participant observer and assessor at a five-day Adolescent Reproductive Health Training Workshop conducted by the Regional Training Project of the Fiji School of Medicine for nursing educators from Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Tonga

The purpose of the mission of the Adviser in RH (Programme) to Tonga was to serve as a resource person in the "Ninth South Pacific Nurses Forum Conference" held at Nuku’alofa, Tonga, from 17-21 August 1998. The forum organized and hosted by the Tonga Nurses Association was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Halaevalu Mata'aho of Tonga.

Vanuatu

In a joint mission, the Adviser on RH and Gender and Adviser in RH (Programme) were in Vanuatu from 25 to 31 July to provide technical assistance to the MOH in finalizing the project document as per the new UNFPA guidelines for WHO endorsement and processing for approval by the UNFPA Field Office.

The Adviser on RH/Gender also conducted two short training sessions on key issues relating to quality of care from a health management perspective.

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Mr. William House, the Adviser on Population Policies and Development Strategies, was in Vanuatu from the 6-13 October 1998, to provide assistance in revising a draft population policy document for submission to the Population Board.

The Adviser also presented his analysis of the Vanuatu KAP Survey "Prospects for Demographic Change in Vanuatu: the Results of a KAP Survey", at the Club Vanuatu before a large audience of over 40 persons, with participation from representatives of Government, NGOs, donor agencies and the Churches.