Communication in the field: the aid post orderly and the health extension officer.

Following Independence in September 1975, extensive decision-making authority has been given to provincial governments in Papua New Guinea (PNG). This includes many aspects of health services for the rural sector which comprises some 80% of a 1982 population of approximately 3.16 million. The development of Health Centres and Health Sub-Centres, administered by Health Extension Officers upon the existing datum of Aid Posts and Aid Post Orderlies, has promoted rural health services. This, in conjunction with the decentralization of health administration to the provinces, has generated changed health expectations and newer problems. The paper discusses the situation using examples from an isolated area of the Eastern Highlands where a new Health Sub-Centre was opened in 1981, and makes some suggestions from these observations.