Comments

This is a disaster. Other Pacific countries should strictly guard their borders.

Bryant, Rotarian's Against Malaria (RAM) are still very much involved in in the National Malaria Control Program. RAM continues to manage the net distribution program with redistribution occurring every three years to most areas with an outstanding record of getting to even the most remote communities in the country. Challenged by the significant reduction in Global Fund funding, RAM was able to secure a grant from 'Against Malaria Foundation' from the UK to fund the latest procurement of the nets. The Global Fund funding goes towards the cost of net distribution and for the procurement of a proportion of malaria treatment drugs and Rapid Diagnostic Tests.

Phyone. Your article is an eye opener.. I read your article and I want to learn more . I hope you can stablish a dialogue platform face to face with Timorese in Perth . Is it possible?My name is John. Cheers.

Jemima, in the 1970s I was a foreign student in Indonesia where Radio Australia's Indonesia n language service was immensely popular. In the 1990s my family and I were in Southern Thailand when the Australian government made the ABC shut down its powerful relay transmitter in Darwin. Radio Australia struggled on with short wave from Melbourne for a while. Now it's all gone. Reviving it could include short wave but we should keep in mind the considerable reach of AM medium wave, especially at night. A powerful AM transmitter can reach hundreds of kilometres in the day time and much further at night. If we can produce the content a combination of these two supposedly old fashioned technologies might reach cheap battery radios in most of the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Thank you Richard, you accurately identified the issues hindering greater participation of PNG workers in these programs. The issue is more so with the inability of the PNG government. The government wants employers to receive workers only from them, their database, but employers obviously do not have confidence in the PNG government's vetting process and they have every right to. These issues have been identified and discussed many many times over the last few years. When will PNG authorities admit that their process is weak and take steps to improve and open up opportunities for their citizens? Papua New Guineans are keen, so keen to come and work but the PNG government itself is making it hard for them. Many are asking and asking how they may participate. As a PNGean living in semi rural Australia, it also frustrates me to see so many other fellow Pacific islanders coming here for work here on farms but not my country men and women. I hope that PNG authorities wake up soon and try different approaches to improve current situation.

Thanks Murray, Good comment. I think you're quite right to conclude that 'good' as measured by the types of indicators of practice that one can compile in an international dataset, and good as measured by actual positive impacts on the ground, are quite different things. To be fair to those who aspire to measure the former, it seems reasonable that meeting some ideals of best practice probably brings with it a higher probability of success on the ground. The trouble is, it turns out to be very hard to measure best practice in a manner amenable to creating cross country comparisons. I support the endeavour. But I think it will always be imperfect at best. Then again, alternatives like OECD peer reviews are also imperfect. The world of aid is imperfect I guess. Ultimately, better evaluations so we learn what works on the ground is likely to be much more practically useful. But I can still see the appeal of international comparisons, trends over time, etc. Thanks again Terence

Very good points Terence. There is one other thing to consider. Too many times institutional donors and some researchers (here's looking at you CDG...) make the erroneous inference that good aid quality by an agency must mean good quality projects on the ground. This error is not a moot given that aid and project quality have very difference frames of references. Furthermore, as no two projects are the same, it is impossible to infer project quality from a single assessment of 'aid quality' (this is related to the 'ecological fallacy' in inferring results between different levels of aggregation). Professionally, what is more interesting is the quality of each project - rather than organizations trumpeting how 'good' they are at delivering aid. I could go on but the PhD on project quality will be submitted soon...

Bryant, long-lasting insecticidal net distribution has been ongoing since that time without interruption, though with slightly reduced funding. RAM has been doing an outstanding job primarily with money from the Global Fund. We published in Bull World Health Organ 2017;95:695–705B how prevalence steeply decreased with the repeated rounds of net distribution. The increase mentioned in this blog is fairly recent and while it occurred in the context of reduced funding the underlying reasons are still subject of further investigations. It is most likely multi-factorial as we mention in the report: intervention coverage (prevention, treatment), mosquito ecology, human behaviour. The malaria situation in PNG is so complex and what works in some places of the country doesn't seem to be sustainable in others. But one thing is clear: without increased and sustained political and financial commitment the current increase is only the beginning.

An interesting read and timely as we are in the process of revising input, outputs outcomes in a logframe of a political and technical project following a Mid Term Review. Linda Kelly can related to this. Will share this article with partners

Thanks Andrea and Lisa for this piece and we have likewise greatly appreciated the three blogs and their contribution to the adaptive programming discourse. Steve’s comment and your earlier (first blog) recognition of the political economy amongst donor agencies and implementing partners highlights the complexity and challenge of practicing adaptive programming. Indeed, authority relationships and expectations between donors and implementing agencies frequently present barriers to adaptive management. Donors may be committed to working adaptively with partners but in practice, tolerance for program flexibility within donor agencies can be highly varied and dynamic. Furthermore, donor agencies that provide consistent trust and flexibility to partners may not resolve the tendency of partner agencies to avoid risk taking and tell donors what they want to hear. In other words, navigating the political economy between donors and partners requires redefining trust relationships within and between stakeholders and explicitly re-negotiating partnerships. Adaptive management and learning are iterative processes that requires flexibility and risk taking from both donors and implementing partners. To this end Lisa, your ‘finding spaces to work differently” point is likely a practical solution albeit requiring a confluence of the right moment and people. Thanks again.

What percentage of the Australian foreign aid budget is spent within Australia (such as purchases of food , clothing, materials, labour, use of the military ships and planes)? I am having trouble finding any info on this and I know it is happening.

Phil, there is an new research project by the PNGIMR investigating whether the cases we find in the Highlands are local transmission or imported cases. This is a follow up to extensive work conducted and published in the early 2000's. As you are aware, there is much more movement of people between malaria-endemic lowlands and the Highlands these days. Our last survey linked in this blog suggests that there is probably very little local transmission (<1% prevalence, all in adults). But we are also likely to find small pockets of local transmission in Highlands provinces at intermediate altitudes.