Family planning services including vasectomy are crucial for families to better plan on the number of children they want to have. Many men who want vasectomies live in remote areas where it is difficult to access health services. When an outreach team arrives in a village, men and women from neighbouring villages will walk long distances to access family planning services. Teams set up their mobile sterilised rooms and start the day providing education and peer counselling sessions with clients before assisting couples with their family planning needs. The following is a story of one such outreach conducted by Marie Stopes PNG. As the last couple leaves the room, Joseph Mondo stands at the corner of the makeshift outreach site. Joseph stays for a good 10 minutes, then sees a group of men approaching as silhouettes against the fading rays of the sun. “Mipla laikim vasectomy but planti manmeri stap na mipla no kam,” (We want vasectomies but there were too many people around, so we did not come). As Joseph has done many times before, he tells the group he will attend to them after his other team members have left, so he can maintain the men’s privacy. After everyone has left, Joseph sits down with the men to talk to them about family planning, sexual reproductive health and vasectomies – the procedure, the expected effects and the benefits – so they understand what is involved before making their decisions. Joseph Mondo – or Joe as he is known by locals across the Highlands region – is an outreach nurse and a trusted vasectomy provider. Joe has been serving Highlands communities as an outreach officer with Marie Stopes PNG since 2009. A vasectomy is a permanent male contraceptive method to help couples plan their future when they are sure they do not want any more children. Vasectomies are safe, have no known health risks and are 99.95 per cent effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies. “I am a non-scalpel vasectomy provider and I provide this service to men who do not want to have any more children,” says Joe. “One by one they would come in. I work into the night until the last person leaves. Then I wait around until there was no one else and then I would pack up for the night,” he says. Joe and the team provide these vital services to their clients in each community they visit, as it might be several months before they visit each village again. Joe has many happy clients who are assisting him and the outreach team members to spread the word to men in their communities. “I get phone calls from men in every part of the Highlands where there is a need for this vasectomy service, but I am only one man and can only go one village at a time,” he says. In the last twelve months, Marie Stopes PNG has implemented 1,684 mobile outreach clinics reaching 125,184 people and delivering over 2,123 vasectomies across Western Highlands, Morobe, Central, Madang, Simbu, NCD, Eastern Highlands, and East New Britain provinces. With funding support from the Australian Government, Marie Stopes has been implementing the family planning and sexual reproductive health services under the Partnering for Strong Families project in Papua New Guinea.

The Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) marked the one year to go to the Solomon Islands 2023 Pacific Games with a donation of the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games Relay Books to the 11 libraries run by Buk Bilong Pikinini (BbP) in Port Moresby. The donation to the BbP libraries occurred at the early learning center located at the University of Papua New Guinea library. The event included a fun-filled educational session with Team PNG athletes sharing about the different sports, the Olympic Values and the Games that they have participated in. The donated pictorial book contains pictures of routes of the different places visited by the Pacific Games Relay Torch, the features of the torch, the people from the 22 provinces that were part of the preclude relay event, prior to Port Moresby hosting the games. PNGOC Secretary General Auvita Rapilla said that the organisation was happy to donate the books to BBP in the hope of inspiring children to take up sports and be involved in physical activities. “We know that literacy is one of the most important indicators of future health, well-being and prosperity. Moreover, sport plays an important part in nation building.” “There are over 40 sports played in the country with 40 National Federations affiliated to the PNGOC, and we would like to encourage these children and the thousands of children in the country to be part of these sports.”, Rapilla said. Founder and Director of BbP Anne-Sophie Hermann expressed her gratitude to the PNGOC for the donation, which will go towards the educational developmental needs of the children. Sports can be the bridge to unite and bond people, starting with children at an early age to foster the Olympic values of respect for self and others, friendship between individuals and groups and excellence in life pursuits, including sports.

James Tedesco admits the Kangaroos need to beat Toa Samoa in the World Cup Final for the tournament to be a success, but the days of Australia dominating the international game are over. The Kangaroos are raging favourites to stop Samoa becoming the first tier two nation to win the World Cup, but Tedesco says the tournament has shown at least five nations are now able to beat each other on any given day. “Samoa proved that by beating England, who everyone expected was going to be in the grand final,” Tedesco said. “The Samoa-Tonga quarter-final went down to the wire, us against New Zealand last week was the same, so the quality of each nation has gone up dramatically. “Boys are choosing to play for their heritage countries over Australia, so every nation is going to be strong. “This hasn’t been an easy tournament for us at all, but there is still an expectation when you play for Australia that you are going to win so we have got to earn it.” Valentine Holmes and Reagan Campbell-Gillard are the only survivors from Australia’s 6-0 defeat of England in the 2017 final, with Tedesco playing for Italy at the past two World Cups. That experience has given the star fullback an understanding of why the likes of Junior Paulo, Brian To’o and Joseph Sua’ali’i have chosen to represent their Samoan heritage, but Tedesco’s ambition was always to play for Australia. To become the Kangaroos captain after former Sydney Roosters team-mate Boyd Cordner was forced to retire is something he could only dream of but Tedesco also understands the responsibility of the role. [caption id="attachment_30563" align="alignnone" width="906"] Match Highlights: England v Samoa[/caption] John Raper (1968), Ron Coote (1970), Graeme Langlands (1972), Arthur Beetson (1977), Wally Lewis (1988), Mal Meninga (1992), Brad Fittler (1995, 2000) and Cameron Smith (2013, 2017) have captained Australia to World Cup wins. “To captain Australia is the highest honour in the game,” Tedesco said. “I have had some big honours, captaining the Roosters and NSW, but captaining Australia in a World Cup is definitely at the top. “There is only a handful who have captained Australia to a World Cup win and they are legends of the game, and Immortals, so to be among those guys would be special. “I don’t want it to end in disappointment, I want to be a successful captain of this team and our country, and it’s all about lifting that trophy.” Australian teams of the past have often been driven by a fear of failure, with Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart having coaching meltdowns after respectively losing 2005 Tri-Nations and 2008 World Cup. Meanwhile, Meninga and his players rejected suggestions that the Australian team were any less passionate about Test football than their counterparts representing the Pacific nations. "I think rugby league is passion," Meninga told a joint press conference with the coaches and captains of the six teams in the men's, women's and wheelchair finals. "The Samoan team is a really good example of that; playing for their ancestral nation. I’m for that. We need the international game to thrive and they’re passionate about it, but so are the Aussies. "Our guys put their hands up to play for Australia. We are no less passionate than any other nation when we pull on that green and gold jersey. "The burden we carry is the expectation, but we still play with the passion and the commitment that is conducive of being an Australia. That’s the way we want to play and behave." Hunt said playing for Australia was the pinnacle of the game. "You can't get to this level or make it to a World Cup without being committed and passionate about what you're doing and about the team and the colours you're wearing," he said. "I think all 24 of our players have got us just as much passion as any other team." Source: NRL.Com

The Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) is delighted to announce the signing of the local Human Resource (HR) Service Provider – Vanguard International as an in-kind sponsor over the next two years (2022-2024). The leading employment agency will be providing in-kind support to the PNGOC and Team PNG in the areas of its existing service specialisations of visa, national identification and passport processing, as well as consulting to the organisation on its existing HR policies, recruitment, athlete job readiness preparation and assisting athletes seek traineeships and employment opportunities. Speaking at the November 18th signing and reveal, Secretary General of the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee Auvita Rapilla said “We are proud to engage with such distinguished service provider in Vanguard International who shares similar values and characteristics to our organisation and athletes”. “We have an obligation to cater for our athlete’s welfare by giving them opportunities to prepare them for a life after sports. Vanguard’s sponsorship and services will help upskill our athletes and link them with employers who want to connect and hire elite athletes in addition to providing specialist services to the organisation”. Vanguard International Chief Executive Officer Michael Elton said “Vanguard International signing on with the PNGOC is our opportunity to give back to the community through our specialized services and community initiative program”. Over the duration of the sponsorship period, Vanguard International will serve as a Corporate Partner of the PNGOC and Team PNG with marketing, branded content and digital advertising opportunities. The announcement starts the PNGOC’s efforts to garner local business support as it prepares to send a large contingent of athletes and officials to the 2023 Solomon Islands Pacific Games in Honiara from November 19th – December 2nd 2023.

Prime Minister James Marape has announced the transfer of Planning Department and associated functions to be under the carriage of Finance Minister Rainbo Paita. “I have transferred the Planning Ministry to be under Minister for Finance, Hon. Rainbo Paita, as we work through the restructuring of what Planning and Central Agencies Coordinating Committee (CACC) will be like next year and going forward,” he said. “In light of the 2022 and 2023 budgets, Minister Paita takes carriage of Planning until the full restructure is completed. “This restructure will not only be at Planning, but at all other national headquarter offices, as we transfer functions and staff to departments and provinces. This is consistent with our view that the National offices at Waigani should be aligned with majority of our public servants at provincial and district level.” PM Marape announced other changes beginning in 2023. “Next year, we will bring the big picture strategic planning functions under National Planning Committee to be reporting directly to the Prime Ministers Office, while all annual spending functions under Finance Ministry,” he said. “Treasury remains the warranting department of all public money. We will also resuscitate the Office of Chief Secretary to oversight a National Monitoring Authority to check out on implementation of all budgeted programmes. “These are some reforms we are doing on Waigani Central Government structure to have ease of implementation and monitoring of Government development programmes.”

Three years ago, environmental and weather factors screamed that NSW was entering a fire season on a scale unseen. Now, those same factors are stacking up in the reverse. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe storm and river flood warnings. I’ve been watching our rivers bleed out over the landscape, some with multiple major flood pulses along their lengths. The unpredictability of the storm system threatens areas with potential flash floods. River inundation is a slow destroyer of crops and inland towns, but flash floods are the killers. They are very difficult to spot until they actually start to happen. I’ve been attempting to follow these systems and find the storms at their most visually impressive. Areas that once looked like desert now look like oceans. The incredible fury of the water releases exploding out at Wyangala Dam sound like a steam train or a tsunami. It truly is an inland tsunami. The entire state has experienced major floods and Herald photographers, such as my colleagues Rhett Wyman and Brook Mitchell, are committed to telling the stories of people suffering in these disasters. Floods come with their own set of potential dangers that affect lives – foot infections, sunburn, dehydration, gastro and infected insect bites along with holes and submerged debris. These images are from the past few weeks and give a glimpse of the birth and growth of a slowly growing flood disaster that I fear has not peaked in its ferocity or scale. Source: The Sunday Morning Herald

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has again highlighted football’s unique ability unite the world and reiterated a plea to world leaders to begin a dialogue as a first step to bring the conflict in Russia and Ukraine to an end. Speaking shortly after addressing the assembled world leaders at the 17th Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the FIFA President re-emphasised his earlier comments about the unique opportunity the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ presents. “My message is actually very simple, it's about football, and football unites the world,” the FIFA President said. “I also made a plea to the world leaders, in particular with regard to the war in Ukraine and Russia calling for a ceasefire for the duration of the FIFA World Cup at least.” Mr Infantino’s comments coincide with the launch of FIFA’s Football Unites the World campaign, within which a host of global football stars joined together and called on the global community to focus on the game’s unique unifying power. His speech to the G20 leaders also comes five days before more than two million fans from every corner of the world are expected to descend on Doha to enjoy the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. The tournament – the first FIFA World Cup™ to take place in the Arab world – will reach another five billion people worldwide. A unique opportunity, the FIFA President says, for the global community to join as one – with a platform unrivalled by any other global event. Source: Fifa.com

Prime Minister  James Marape has always been vocal about connecting the whole of Papua New Guinea by road since taking Office in 2019 and returning after the recent National General Election. Prime Minister Marape continues to speak about the Connect PNG Program of which his Government has already commenced work on and ensuring funds are available to realize his vision. The Marape-Rosso Government has now legislated the Connect PNG Program making it legally binding for the next 20 years. This will now ensure successive governments are obliged to make funding available for the program, which commenced in 2020 and will conclude in 2040. The estimated total cost is around K20 billion. This is a major public funded infrastructure development program ever undertaken in the last 47 years. This year, the people of Papua New Guinea will witness the launching of three of the six roads identified to be funded under the Connect PNG Program. They are the Manus East West Highway, which was launched on November 3, Vanimo-Wewak Coastal Highway, which was launched on November 17 and East and West New Britain Highway, which will be launched before the end of this year. During the launch of the Wewak to Aitape Road Upgrading and Sealing Project under the Connect PNG Program, Minister for Works and Highway Solan Mirisim emphasized that the Marape-Rosso Government is committed to empowering all Papua New Guineans with sustainable and improved road connectivity and accessibility to a whole range of activities including easy access to basic goods and services and access to markets for their vegetables and cash crops. “I must highlight and emphasize that the Connect PNG Programme is a National Roads Infrastructure Development Programme implemented in all regions and provinces. It involves improving existing key economic roads and constructing the missing links,” he said. “In the medium term, the programme aims to connect the Momase and Highlands Regions to the Southern Region through the Trans-national Highway by 2025. “For the long term, the programme aims to have 100 percent road connectivity from the Wutung Border Post all the way to the East Cape in Milne Bay Province. The Minister for Works and Highways said the Sepik Coastal Highway is part of a larger road network under the Connect PNG program that is considered as the Momase Economic Road Corridor that starts from the Wutung Border Post, passing through East Sepik and Madang provinces and ending in Morobe Province. “Marape-Rosso Government recognises the strategic importance of the Momase Economic Corridor Road Network and its huge potential to effect socio-economic development in the Momase Region and PNG as a whole.” Mr Mirisim said the Sepik Coastal Highway is valued at K139.85 million. An initial funding of 10 percent of the total value has already been paid to the local Contractor, Green Hills Limited and the road works will cover 40 kilometres of the 1,318 kilometres of the Momase Economic Corridor road network.

Digicel, PNG’s leading Digital Operator and Telecommunications provider is Sharing More Joy to customers across PNG with over K500,000 in cash and prize giveaways. The 2022 Digicel Christmas Promotion dubbed “Share More Joy This Christmas” will award three amazing cash grand prizes of K100,000, K50,000 and K30,000 cash to three lucky Digicel customers. Cash prizes will also be awarded to 15 lucky winners every week for the duration of the promotion. Five Digicel customers will win K5, 000 cash and 10 customers will win K2, 500 cash every week and that’s not all; Digicel customers will also win daily prizes of 1TOK Primes Bundles and Data Plans. Over 3,000 Digicel customers will become winners this Christmas in the “Digicel Share More Joy” Christmas promotion. With more prizes to win and share this Christmas, Digicel customers can qualify to win by simply topping up with K5 or more or by purchasing any 4G LTE Smartphone and will automatically get a chance to win the daily, weekly and grand cash prizes. In addition, customers who buy the WoWi 4G LTE Smartphone will receive a FREE 7Day 50GB Data plan bundle plus 60 minutes of free talk for Digicel to Digicel calls to their loved ones this Christmas. Lorna McPherson, Senior Vice President of Digicel PNG said, “It is our yearly tradition at Digicel to share more with our customers and this Christmas is no different. We are all about spreading more joy to our customers across Papua New Guinea with exciting daily, weekly and grand cash and prizes valued at over half a million kina. I am very excited that this Customers we will have over 3,000 Digicel customers across PNG becoming winners and what’s more exciting is that we have made it very easy for everyone to qualify to win. Digicel customers simply need to top up with only K5 or more or buy a 4G LTE smartphone and will instantly qualify to win any of these great prizes this Christmas. Ms McPherson continued, “By offering more cash and prizes this Christmas, we hope to share more joy across PNG where our customers and those who are lucky winners can extend this joy to their loved ones and to celebrate the festive season better”. Digicel’s ‘Share More Joy This Christmas’ campaign is officially launched today and will end onthe 31st of December 2022. Digicel encourages all customers to top up K5 or more or buy a 4G smartphone for their chance to win their share in over K500,000 cash & prizes giveaway, so they too can share more joy with their families and wantoks.

The death certificate for Shanquella Robinson has been released, but her family says it doesn’t answer enough questions about the 25-year-old’s death last month. Robinson, well known for her business braiding hair, was in Cabo San Lucas with a group of friends celebrating someone’s birthday. The 25-year-old turned up dead after just one day on vacation. The death certificate, obtained by Nexstar’s WJZY, lists the cause of death as severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation, which is instability in the uppermost vertebrae. Robinson and her friends had rented a villa and supposedly didn’t go out that night. According to Robinson’s family, the friends told them she was drunk when she died. “They didn’t call us until the very last minute, and then on top of that, they said the maid found her,” Salamondra Robinson, Shanquella’s mother, said. “No one told the same story, so I never believed them anyway,” The section of the death certificate where police could have noted any sign of intoxication only said “person found unconscious in her living room.” The group stayed at Villa Linda 32, a property listed on CaboVillas.com. A representative of the company said the group of friends called the concierge for help on a Saturday afternoon. The concierge called a doctor, who gave CPR. Robinson died at 3 p.m., an estimated 15 minutes after her injury. The death certificate has a section that reads, “Was it accidental or violent?” “Yes,” was typed into that section, but it’s unclear which of those questions authorities were answering. WJZY obtained a list of the seven guests who signed into the villa and called the phone numbers they left with the company. Some numbers weren’t valid; others went to voicemail. “I probably won’t be at ease until someone’s arrested,” said Salamondra. The U.S. State Department previously told WJZY that Mexican authorities believe there’s no clear evidence Robinson was murdered. Source: Myfox8.com

Australia and the Western Provincial Government launched the PNGAustralia Western Province Strategy in Daru on 7 November 2022. The Strategy follows on from the memorandum of understanding signed in2021 and documents the shared vision for an inclusive, healthy, educated, stable and economically prosperous Western Province. The Western Province Strategy also reflects what was bilaterally agreed upon at the national level in the Papua New Guinea-Australia Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership (CSEP) to drive growth, enhance stability and improve service delivery. The Strategy is set out along three pillars of action – improvement in human development, economic development and enabling infrastructure, stability and security – and is informed by the New Way Forward – Western Province Development Plan and PNG’s Medium Term Development Plan. Australia’s support to Western Province in recent years has already included activities related to these three pillars, such as priority upgrades at the Daru General Hospital, establishing the Mabudawan Health Centre and upgrading the Daru electricity grid. Australia has also supported the province in the face of specific health security threats, such as Tuberculosis and COVID-19 and enhanced security with strengthened border management and partnerships with defence operations. The Western Province Strategy is a feature of Australia’s support for PNG’s Medium Term Development priorities. It sets out a coordinated approach to the delivery of Australia’s development assistance across sectors, such as health and infrastructure, includes partnerships with relevant Australian Government agencies such as the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Defence Force, and capitalises on the use of local resources and knowledge for a more efficient and effective delivery of shared development goals. Launching the joint Strategy, Australian High Commissioner, Jon Philp acknowledged the collaboration with the Western Provincial Administration and Governor Taboi Awi Yoto in drafting the strategy and reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to align with the Provincial Development Plan - New Way Forward.

Prime Minister James Marape has invited the United States of America to invest in downstream processing in Papua New Guinea, especially in fisheries. He made the invitation to US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of APEC 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, today. PM Marape said it was a privilege for PNG to have been given the honor of meeting Secretary Blinken. The bilateral also comes after the Biden administration hosted the first-ever U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit in Washington, D.C. on September 28–29, bringing together more than a dozen Pacific Island leaders and other keyPM Marape observers to discuss areas of shared interest, including climate change, maritime security, and economic development; and as the US prepares to open its new Embassy building in Port Moresby later this month. Today’s bilateral was the culmination of a busy first day at APEC 2022 at which PM Marape had meetings with several international companies in which he invited them to invest in PNG. PM Marape was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. Justin Tkatchenko, Secretary for PM and NEC Ivan Pomaleu and Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu at today’s meeting with Secretary Blinken. “The US pledged to engage more with us and asked us what kind of support we wanted,” he said after the meeting. “We didn’t ask them to give us more grants and aid - all we asked was for them to bring in more US businesses into PNG, particularly in the downstream sector. “We pointed them to the area of fisheries, saying that’s the best they can do for us, to economically empower us not just today, but more importantly into the future. “We invited them, as the biggest global economy, to bring in their companies and take up residence in PNG.” The meeting also touched on: • Follow-up on discussions from the Washington meeting, especially that PNG’s case was different from smaller Pacific nations; • PNG’s location in the Indo-Pacific region; • PNG’s reliance on Asia for commerce and trade; • US companies operating in PNG, especially ExxonMobil, which recently celebrated 100 years in the country; • USA inviting Pacific Island countries to the next APEC which it will host • Various other matters