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Organization Contact Information | |
| Name: | YWAM Medical Ships |
| Street 1: | 215 Walker Street |
| Street 2: | |
| City: | TOWNSVILLE |
| Province: | Queensland |
| Post Code: | 4810 |
| Country: | Australia |
| Phone: | + 61 7 4771 2123 |
| Organization Email: | info@ywamships.org |
| Web Site: | http://www.ywamships.org.au |
| Other Online Presence: | |
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General Information | |
| Board Constituency: | Developed Country NGO |
| Is your organization legally registered in your country: | Yes |
| If yes, please enter your registration number: | |
| Organization Type - Primary: | Non-Governmental Organization |
| Organization Type - Secondary: | Faith-based organization (FBO) |
| Organization Description: | |
| 1) YWAM Medical Ships – Australia (YWAM MSA) is a Christian charity that aims to care, connect, serve and build with individuals and communities. YWAM MSA is actively developing communities by addressing health care and training needs in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in partnership with the relevant national and provincial government administrations. The program is guided by the vision and priorities of key policy documents including PNG’s National Health Plan: 2011- 2020 (NHP: 2011-2020). It also honours the PNG – Australia Partnership for Development: Health and HIV/AIDS Schedule and a shared commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). YWAM MSA implements its program, in association with key stakeholders and partners, via use of a Training and Medical Ship and land-based teams deployed in rural PNG communities. 2) Papua New Guinea has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis (TB) infections in the world, a situation which has been declared a “National Emergency” by the National health authorities. With nearly 30,000 new infections on an annual basis, TB is a condition we deal with regularly. 3) Our work in the area of TB is many fold. We conduct health awareness sessions in the communities we visit. Training and up skilling national health workers in laboratory skills. Use direct light as well as fluorescent LED microscopy to diagnose TB suspects referred to our laboratory by our primary health care teams and local health services. We are currently looking at expanding our laboratory services to offer GeneXpert testing as per the National algorithm. We work in collaboration with the national government and local health authorities in order to strengthen the existing care deliveries pathway. Furthermore, we support the delivery of essential medicines, development of land-based laboratories and support for local TB health workers to engage in patrol work in remote areas. |
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| Do you know about the UNHLM declaration: | |
Specializations / Areas of Work | |
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Advocacy Civil Society and Community Engagement Delivery of health services and care Engaging political leaders and ensuring inclusive leadership Technical Assistance Working on Key Populations related to TB |
Other Organization Information | |
| Total number of staff in your organization: | 100 + |
| Number of full-time staff who are directly involved with TB: | 6 - 10 |
| Number of part-time staff who are directly involved with TB: | 26 - 50 |
| Number of volunteers who are directly involved with TB: | 100 + |
| How did you hear about the Stop TB Partnership: | Stop TB communications |
| If you were informed or referred by another partner of the Stop TB Partnership please tell us who: | |
| Why do you wish join the Stop TB Partnership: | Network with other partners |
| Are you a member of a Stop TB national partnership: | No |
| Are you in contact with your national TB programme: | Yes |
| Please tell us how your organization is contributing to your country's national TB control plan: | |
| YWAM MSA is working in the southern region of PNG, offering TB services in six provinces (Western, Gulf, Central, Milne Bay, Oro, and Morobe), which include two of the three current national hotspots for XDR-TB. When our Training and Medical ship arrives in a community, we have a team that provides community health awareness on various topics, including TB. Our primary health care teams offer services such as outpatient clinic, antenatal checks, contraceptive options, child health and immunisations as well as wound care. All of our workers are advised to screen and look for signs of tuberculosis. If tuberculosis is suspected, a sputum sample is collected for microscopy. If a patient is identified with tuberculosis, every effort is made to linked them in with the local and provincial health services to ensure proper follow up and continuous medication supply. Every incidence of TB is reported to provincial and national health offices according to national guidelines. Furthermore, we support the delivery of essential medicines, development of land-based laboratories and support for local TB control workers to engage in patrol work in remote areas. |
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Geographical Reach | |
| Which country is your headquarters located in: | Australia |
| Which countries do you do operate in: (This includes countries you are conducting activities in) |
Australia Papua New Guinea |
Contribution | |
| Please tell us how your organization will contribute to the Global Plan to Stop TB by briefly describing its involvement in any of the areas of work listed below: | |
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TB Care Delivery: Papua New Guinea 2010-Present YWAM MSA offers diagnostic services with microscopy, and soon introducing molecular diagnosis via the GeneXpert. Connecting the identified patients with provincial health services and disease control in order to ensure access to the right therapy and follow up as required. Support logistical transport of tuberculosis diagnosis supplies and medication to remote health facilities from the National Medical Store. Due to the nature of our involvement in remote regions of the country, we work towards reaching the key populations such as those with difficulty accessing medical facilities, also those at increased risk of contracting TB because of their increased exposure by living in a TB hotspot or with a family member that has TB. We work towards treatment success by educating patients and communities of the importance to consider TB a community issue rather than a personal illness. We reinforce the importance of community in the support network of a patient. We continually engage with the same areas to strengthen the local structures, we believe in capacity building to support the workers of the existing health facilities with follow-up sputum test in the remote communities, as well as linking in the patients that are not consistent with their treatment due to the remoteness of their residence. TB-HIV: Papua New Guinea - future YWAM MSA is working towards being able to provide HIV voluntary counselling and testing for TB patients. And TB screening for all identified HIV patients. Laboratory Strengthening: Papua New Guinea 2016-Present YWAM MSA provides training and up skilling national health workers in laboratory skills onboard the Training and Medical Ship. We support the development of land-based laboratories and offer technical assistance for local TB health workers to engage in patrol work in remote areas. We use direct light as well as fluorescent LED microscopy to diagnose TB suspects referred to our laboratory by our primary health care teams and local health services. YWAM MSA is looking at introducing molecular diagnosis via the GeneXpert in accordance with National testing algorithms. |
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Declaration | |
| Declaration of interests: No conflicts of interest were delacred. | |
| Application date: | September 30, 2016 |
| Last updated: | August 16, 2022 |