I am from Papua New Guinea, I work in one of the provincial hospital which is Kundiawa General Hospital. I serve as clinical Midwife for 7 years before I pursue for my postgraduate studies to Australia this year 2020.
The average number of births per day is 6 -10 babies which accounts for 30-50 babies per month in average. our ward capacity is limited with 4 delivery beds, 18 antenatal beds and 19 gynecology beds. the workload is very high per shift.
Apart from my clinical work, I volunteered in the rural communities by providing basic health education like, hygiene, nutrition, family planning, cervical cancer, antenatal care, men’s involvement in maternal child health care, family health and so on…..
I have special interest in the topic of my presentation because, apart from the pregnancy related complications faced by women in my country, cervical cancer is one the most common cause of death in PNG. Due to no proper screening for cervical cancer and no pap-smear services in most public hospitals and clinics, many women are not aware of their cervical cancer status. it is further compounded by other related factors that prevent women to reach the health facility early when they have early signs of cervical cancer. Therefore i am interested to know what are barriers to them seeking medical help quickly and by discovering the possible factors, then how and what can we (health care providers) address these issues to reduce the mortality rate..
