Papua New Guinea faces many challenges to their rural healthcare system, especially important considering most of the population lives in rural areas. To address these deficiencies, the government created a 10-year National Health Plan.
Regarding health financing, chapters 6 and 7 focused exclusively on financing and the cost of the plan. Some key statistics and highlights of these two chapters were that between 2007 and 2010, overall personnel expenditures, including those in churches, has increased almost 60%. Although financing has increased and is almost able to cover all estimated costs, these resources are not being deployed effectively, thus proving that more funding doesn’t always equal progress on a similar level. Regarding the cost for the plan, there is a general costing, although specific programs such as combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping the country were broken down individually.