History
The Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research is a statutory body of the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The Institute was established in 1968 through an Act of Parliament and it effectively acts as the research arm of the PNG Department of Health. The ultimate aim of all the Institute's research activities is to provide effective interventions, leading to improvements in people's health and the control and prevention of disease. The basis for achieving this aim is greater understanding of the disease process and constraints to change. In part, this understanding comes from knowledge of the external causative agents of disease and in part from examining the host factors involved.
Early work of the institute focused on respiratory diseases, pigbel (clostridial necrotizing enteritis), and kuru. Since then, major research programs have been established in respiratory diseases, malaria, malnutrition, enteric diseases, sexual health, women's health, and others.
The Institute's second director (1977-2000) was Professor Michael Alpers, an Australian medical researcher who was instrumental in the discovery of the epidemiology and transmission of kuru.
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