Newcrest Sustainability Fund

Since 2020, Newcrest Mining Ltd has generously supported New Ireland and Australian Doctors International through various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, Newcrest provided ADI with logistical support to transport supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) from Australia, which was distributed to the New Ireland Provincial Health Authority (NIPHA).

Beginning in July 2021, Newcrest, UNICEF, NIPHA and ADI partnered to roll out New Ireland’s COVID-19 vaccination program in line with the National ‘Sleeves Up’ Campaign.

Throughout the 15-month project, the NIPHA and ADI worked together to make significant progress towards key targets in health worker upskilling and COVID-19 vaccination demand generation, training 100 health workers from 38 health facilities, and an additional 338 community leaders and volunteers in COVID-19 advocacy and demand generation.

The project, which concluded in September 2022, was also targeted at strengthening routine immunisations across New Ireland. ADI supported the NIPHA to assess and report on rural health facilities’ cold chain equipment in preparation for Supplemental Immunisation Activities (SIA), facilitating dedicated routine immunisation outreach patrols to improve childhood vaccination rates in rural communities, where childhood vaccinations were disrupted by the pandemic.

Newcrest’s commitment to supporting activities to strengthen New Ireland’s health system continues with a new, three-year agreement established between ADI and the Newcrest Sustainability Fund beginning in October 2022. Through this agreement, ADI will work alongside the NIPHA to maintain a schedule of regular, integrated health outreach patrols to rural communities, scale-up training opportunities for rural health workers and provide necessary support to the NIPHA where needed, to strengthen the province’s health system.

Since establishing this new partnership in October, ADI has supported the NIPHA in the last 3 months to:

• Deliver four integrated outreach health patrols with the NIPHA to rural and remote health facilities and communities in Nimimar, Tanir, Murat and Sentral Islands

• Deliver Family Planning in-service training to rural health workers from Namatanai District

• Support the NIPHA’s delivery of the following trainings:

  • CHW Upskilling: a six-month program bringing together nine rural health workers to Kavieng Hospital to work full-time under supervision in the Maternity Unit

  • Emergency Obstetrics (EMONC) & Primary Mother and Baby Care (PMBC): a nationally-accredited two-week course aimed at improving the management of emergency obstetrics and neonatal care

“ADI welcomes Newcrest’s commitment to the communities in their operational jurisdictions through the new Sustainability Fund and we look forward to working together to improve the health of rural communities in New Ireland and support the NIPHA to strengthen the local health system.” Mimi Zilliacus, CEO, ADI.

ADI will be regularly engaging with the NIPHA to determine how we can better respond to the health priorities of the province, and jointly achieve our goal to improve the health and wellbeing of people in New Ireland.