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The students are furthering their knowledge and expertise in disease and infection control through their studies in QUT's Graduate Certificate in Health Science (Disease and Infection Control) through the Federal Government’s prestigious Australia Awards.

Course co-coordinator Lana Elliott said the cohort included both clinical staff and public health workers from across Papua New Guinea, including remote and more isolated communities.

“We have course participants from right across Papua New Guinea, including doctors, nurses, midwifes, environmental health officers, laboratory technicians and health extension officers,” she said.

Ms Elliott said the cohort would be the first of 55 Papua New Guinean students to complete this graduate certificate.

“It’s exciting to be helping to build a network of skilled professionals who will go on to work together over the next 20 or 30 years to build greater links across Papua New Guinea’s health system.”

Ms Elliott said because QUT’s academics had a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges of Pacific health systems they could teach students how to apply their new knowledge at home.

“We work hard on providing the knowledge in context, so our students have a good understanding of diseases, but also understand what that means in terms of treating patients and working to improve systems.

“It’s this understanding that will support them to become great health system leaders.”

“QUT has world-leading infectious disease experts who have close connections with the Pacific and this program is strengthening our relationship with our closest international neighbours.”

Ms Elliott said that as part of the course, students were required to complete a project that applied the knowledge and skills they’d learned to a problem they’d identified in their hospital, health service or community.

“It’s really important to us that we take a real-world approach, so we’ve been working with our QUT PNG alumni to design and facilitate the program, which is creating great synergies.

“One of our Master of Health Management graduates is now the principal lawyer for health in PNG and will be running students through health law, policymaking and aligning their projects to the PNG national health plan.”

The Australia Award program provides transformational scholarships and short courses to emerging leaders from emerging countries to allow them to study, research and undertake professional development in Australia and the region so they can return home and contribute to their nations’ development, prosperity and resilience. The award is fully funded by the Australian Government as part of the PNGAus Partnership.

Media contact:
Sally Dillon, QUT Media, 07 3138 8666, s.dillon@qut.edu.au
After hours: media@qut.edu.au