Full Circle or Spiralling Out of Control?: State Violence and the Control of Urbanisation in Papua New Guinea

There is an administrative reluctance to recognise the permanency of urban settlement in Papua New Guinea. This reluctance, evident since the 1960s, has been characteristic of both the colonial and post-colonial administrations. Opposition to some facets of urbanisation continues today, despite growing population and land pressures in most rural areas and real problems of landlessness emerging in particular rural areas. Colonial control of urban populations has been replicated in contemporary times, often in more draconian form. Eviction of urban settlers has been tied to issues of crime and urban respectability, and lingering perceptions that Melanesians should be rural residents. The growth of informal settlements and urbanisation are not seen as issues of urban planning, nor is the context of urban migration linked to socioeconomic inequality, hence other forms of urban policy are largely absent. Strengthening alliances between land-owners and the state (especially police and provincial administrations) have thus emphasised intraurban inequality and hampered national development

Adolescent fertility and family planning in East Asia and the Pacific: a review of DHS reports

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adolescent pregnancy has significant health and socio-economic consequences for women, their families and communities. Efforts to prevent too-early pregnancy rely on accurate information about adolescents' knowledge, behaviours and access to family planning, however available data are limited in some settings. Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) reports are recognised as providing nationally representative data that are accessible to policymakers and programmers. This paper reviews DHS reports for low and lower middle income countries in East Asia and the Pacific to determine what information regarding adolescent fertility and family planning is available, and summarises key findings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The most recent DHS reports were sought for the 33 low and lower middle income countries in the East Asia and Pacific region as defined by UNICEF and World Bank. Age-disaggregated data for all indicators relevant to fertility and current use, knowledge and access to family planning information and services were sought to identify accessible information. Reported data were analysed using an Excel database to determine outcomes for adolescents and compare with adult women.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>DHS reports were available for eleven countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vietnam. Twenty seven of 40 relevant DHS indicators reported outcomes for adolescent women aged 15-19 years. There were limited data for unmarried adolescents. A significant proportion of women commence sexual activity and childbearing during adolescence in the context of low contraceptive prevalence and high unmet need for contraception. Adolescent women have lower use of contraception, poorer knowledge of family planning and less access to information and services than adult women.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DHS reports provide useful and accessible data, however, they are limited by the failure to report data for unmarried adolescents and report age-disaggregated data for some indicators. Further research is required to better understand the barriers that both married and unmarried adolescents face accessing reproductive health information and services, and their information and service delivery preferences.</p

Modelled Population Estimates for Papua New Guinea, version 1.0

This project was initiated in 2021 to generate modelled population estimates for Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support their census preparations. It was powered by the Australian Government through the PNGAus partnership, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)and the PNG National Statistical Office. The project team combined recent 2019-2021 malaria bednet campaign data, urban structural listing 2021 data, and geospatial covariates to model and estimate population numbers at census unit level, and aggregate at other relevant administrative units (e.g., national, province, and districts) using a Bayesian statistical hierarchical modelling framework. The approach facilitated simultaneous accounting for the multiple levels of variability within the data hierarchy. It also allowed the quantification of uncertainties in parameter estimates. These model-based population estimates can be considered as most accurately representing the years 2020-21. This time period corresponds to the malaria survey and urban structural listing survey observations (2019-2021; median year: 2020) and the period of the satellite imagery used to generate settlement footprints (2021). Although the methods were robust enough to explicitly account for key random biases within the datasets, it is noted that systematic biases, which may arise from sources other than random errors within the observed data collection process, are most likely to remain. These data were produced by the WorldPop Research Group at the University of Southampton in collaboration with the National Statistical Office of PNG and UNFPA under the project called &ldquo;Population-modelled estimation for Papua New Guinea in collaboration with the National Statistical Office, 2021-22&rdquo; (PNG40-0000004504). The final statistical modelling was designed, developed, and implemented by Chris Nnanatu. Data processing was done by Amy Bonnie with additional support from Tom Abbott, Tom McKeen, Heather Chamberlain, Ortis Yankey, Duygu Cihan and Assane Gadiaga. Project oversight was done by Attila Lazar and Andy Tatem. Household survey listing data were provided by the National Statistical Office, and the settlement footprint was generated by Planet.</span