Julie Kamblijambi-Kep has come a long way from her childhood in the village of Wingi in Papua New Guinea's East Sepik Province. This article explores the support Julie's family provided for her education, her subsequent training as a nurse and her work around the country, including as the coordinator of the maternal health program at the University of Goroka. The article's exploration of various challenges, including the death of Julie's husband and her need to work while raising five children, make it a useful reference point for women in Papua New Guinea, especially those who are committed to helping others by working in the field of maternal and child health.

Malnutrition is a contributing cause of about half of the 10 million deaths annually worldwide, and contributes to a substantial proportion of the infectious disease morbidity among children in developing countries. Recent epidemiological and clinical evidence has shown that in most developing countries deficiencies of specific micronutrients are partly responsible for the severity of infectious disease morbidity and mortality in malnourished children. Efforts to improve micronutrient status have focused on iron, vitamin A and iodine. Supplementation with iron and vitamin A significantly reduces child mortality, while implementation of the universal salt iodization strategy reduces the incidence of iodine deficiency disorders. These strategies are considered to be among the most cost-effective health interventions in developing countries. A number of recent zinc supplementation studies in developing countries suggest that greater priority should also be given to the correction of mild to moderate zinc deficiency in children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Some of these studies showed that zinc supplementation reduces the duration of malaria, and the severity of diarrhoea and respiratory infections (including pneumonia), and improves immunocompetence in susceptible children. The results of these studies indicate that zinc may be another specific micronutrient in which there is widespread deficiency in developing countries and that great benefits can be achieved by its supplementation.
Zinc ; Child ; Dietary Supplementation ; Health ; deficiency

Cervical cancer is regarded as a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) detected in up to 80 per cent of the cancer biopsies. Genetic susceptibility of a p53 allelic variant has been postulated to play a vital role in carcinogenesis. This study was aimed at determining the allelic frequencies of p53 codon 72 polymorphism in Papua New Guinean women and also assessing the presence of HPV in cervical cancer biopsies. Peripheral blood (3-5 mL) was collected from 53 healthy females of reproductive age (19-37 years) with no known past and current history of HPV infections. Sixty-two cervical biopsies along with cervical swaps were obtained from patients (19-54 years) with clinical symptoms and histopathological confirmation of cervical cancer. DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood samples and cervical samples. Exon 4 was amplified with PCR and further genotypic analyses performed by Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP). Of the 53 normal samples analyzed, 3.8 % (2/53) were Arginine homozygous, 58.5 % were Proline homozygous and 37.7 % were heterozygous. For the cancer samples, 14.5 % (9/62) were Arginine homozygous, 54.8 % were Proline homozygous and 30.7% were heterozygous. HPV genome was detected in 83.9 % (52/62) of the cervical cancer samples. The genotypic trend and allelic frequencies were consistent with literature.

The allele and genotype frequency values of the three tetranucleotide short tandem repeat (STR) loci, D7S820, D13S317 and D16S359, were analysed in blood samples of 25 unrelated randomly selected individuals in the National Capital District, Papua New Guinea. Gene-Print Silver-STR III Multiplex kit (Promega Corp., Medison, WI, USA) was used for the PCR amplification in GeneAmp®PCR System 9700 thermal cycler (Applied iosystems). Data analysis was carried out using the PowerStatsV12.xl workbook template obtained from Promega Corporation. The three STR loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Five alleles (9 – 13) were identified for D16S539, five alleles (8 – 12) for D7S820 and six alleles (8, 9, 11 – 14) for D13S317. No new or microvariant alleles were observed. The most frequent genotypes for D16S539 were 11-11 and 11-12; for D7S820 were 10-11 and 12-12; for D13S317 was 8-12. Observed Heterozygosity was highest in D13S317 (0.880). The combined power of discrimination was 0.99733 and the combined power of exclusion was 0.9363. The data suggests that the three loci are useful for identity testing, forensics and for solving paternity cases among the population in National Capital District, Papua New Guinea.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy-related low back pain is a common complaint with numerous adverse consequences. Unfortunately, the effect of healthrelated quality of life and physical activity status on pregnancy-related low back pain remains understudied. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the influence of physical activity and health-related quality of life on pregnancy-related low back pain among pregnant women. METHODS: A survey of 398 pregnant women was conducted using the Modified Pregnancy Low Back Pain, Medical Outcome Survey Short Form (MOS-SF), and Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) to assess pregnancy-related low back pain, quality of life, and physical activity status among the participants. RESULTS: About fifty-four percent (54%) of the pregnant women reported experiencing low back pain during pregnancy. There were no significant differences between most physical activity intensities and domains for pregnant women with and without pregnancy-related low back pain, with the exception of women identified as sedentary (12.9±14.8 versus 17.4±16.2) or inactive (18.7±20.0 versus 23.6±19.8). Furthermore, waist circumference (OR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.96 to 0.99) and Physical component scores (PCS) (OR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93 to 0.98) were associated with pregnancy-related low back pain. An interaction of height and occupation also showed an association with pregnancy related low back pain (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.08). CONCLUSION Sedentary and inactivity are the only physical activity intensity and domain associated with pregnancy-related low back pain, which affect the physical well-being of the expecting mothers.
Exercise