Empowering Communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Enhanced Access and Quality in HIV and STI Services through ‘Komuniti Wok; Senis Kamap’ in the National Capital District (NCD) and the Eastern Highlands Province (EHP), a sustained Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) Initiative
Papua New Guinea’s population is estimated at 11.7 million (NSO 2021), with an overall HIV prevalence of 1.5% among adults aged 15+ (NDoH 2025). There are about 30 new HIV infections daily, including 7 infants born with HIV each day.
PNG faces a mixed HIV epidemic, disproportionately affecting key populations (KPs) — including female sex workers (FSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), and transgender women (TGW) — and their sexual partners. Priority populations also include pregnant women and their children, who continue to face elevated risk of transmission.
HIV prevalence among key populations remains significantly higher than the national average — 16% among FSW and their sexual partners, and 8% among MSM and TGW (IBBS 2017). The 2025 national size estimates identify approximately 195,400 FSW, 358,200 male clients, 77,700 MSM, and 5,100 TGW, totalling over 636,000 individuals from key population groups nationwide.
Within the National Capital District (NCD), an estimated 18,300 KPs reside — including 12,600 FSW, 5,300 MSM, and 400 TGW (PSE 2023). NCD also records one of the highest positivity rates in HIV testing at 3.8%, reflecting the concentrated nature of the epidemic.
Despite expanded testing and treatment coverage, barriers remain significant: high levels of violence, stigma, and discrimination (S&D), combined with socio-cultural and gender inequalities, continue to limit access to quality HIV/STI services among KPs, PLHIV, and women.
The ‘Kommuniti Wok Senis Kamap’ (Community-Led Monitoring) project, launched in 2021 with USAID support, continues to improve HIV service quality, address barriers to achieving 95-95-95 targets, and empower civil society, PLHIV networks, and KP communities in NCD and beyond.
The Activities of the Community-Led Monitoring are guided by the following:
Coordinate, strengthen, and manage the CLM mechanism through the Key Population Advocacy Consortium (KPAC) CLM Team led by a CLM Lead Officer and supported by a CLM Training Officer, the CLM Operator of the National Response Center (NRC) and on-call CLM Monitors for Community and Facility level monitoring.
Build the capacity of KPAC Community Champions (Community Monitors) to implement CLM.
Support KPAC Community Champions (Community Monitors) to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data from communities and facilities.
Analyze and utilize CLM data to guide advocacy with national and provincial leaders for the improvement of HIV services through continuous feedback on CLM findings.
Identification, training and retraining of community monitors including the use of the Google Classroom
Deployment of mixed models and tools for monitoring and data collection.
Data cleaning to enhance the quality of results.
Triangulation of results to remove individual biases.
Multiple feedback loop and dissemination channels.
There are 5 interlinked CLM Models across 3 platforms:
CLM in Virtual Spaces (continuous)
CLM 1 - KPAC National Response Center (calls, visits, and messages) - Managed by KP Response Center Operators (RCO). |Open several days a week and accessible to KPs through multiple platforms (calls to landline; mobile phone and social media; text, direct messages and comments to KPAC’s Facebook, messenger groups and pages, WhatsApp, Website and Email; and face-to-face visits to KPAC office in NCD (if necessary and convenient).
CLM 2 - Social Media (Facebook Page, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp Groups) - Managed by KPAC provincial delegates in Morobe and Eastern Highlands Provinces. | Supported by the GFATM.
2. CLM in Communities (routine)
CLM 3 - Facility Exit Interviews (1-3 times a year) - Led by community monitors using a health service quality scorecard administered to KPs clients and PLHIV. |Carried out every four months.
CLM 4 - KP Community Forums (1-3 times a year) - Led by community monitors using health service quality scorecard administered to KPs who have accessed services in the last 6 months or non-access documentation tool KPs who have not availed any services. | Carried out every four months.
3. CLM in Facilities (continuous)
CLM 5 - Facility Observations through KP Mystery Clients (1-3 times a year) - Community monitors disguise as mystery clients to access and rate facility-based services using an expanded health service quality scorecard. | Carried out every four months.
See the CLM Recipes (documentations) HERE
1. CLM-1 and CLM-2 Response Center Issue Documentation Tools
2. CLM-3 Facility Exit Interview Scorecard
3. CLM-4 Community Forum Scorecard
4. CLM-5 Facility Observation Tool
5. Dashboards
RESULTS DASHBOARDS (Power BI)
Modes of data dissemination and utilization :
Same-day Feedback - real-time data utilization, same-day, immediate feedback at the facility for urgent issues.
Facility Visits - Summary Feedback and Awarding of Certificates of Recognition, approximately 2-4 weeks from data collection.
Dissemination Workshops - province-level gathering of facilities and community members.
Online (KPAC website) and Social Media communications (Facebook page, Whatsapp group) for general findings.
25 community members trained on data collection, monitoring, and management of CLM - 3 RCOs, 4 Supervisors, 9 exit interview monitors, 9 community forum monitors.
An average of 78 (range: 20 – 139) clients received monthly by the 3 operators at the
Four rounds of Facility Exit Interviews (16 clinics; 477 interviews)
Three rounds of Community Forums (53 respondents)
Two rounds of Facility Observations (15 clinics; 63 observations).
15 feedback/dissemination session with stakeholders.
Community
Improved capacity of Community Monitors for CLM data collection and dissemination of results Platform is in place for KPs barriers to accessing STI/HIV and other health services.
Clinics
15 NCD PHA clinics were sensitized on KP needs and service delivery.
Clinics taking actions to address physical barriers to service access (erection of signpost at St. Therese Clinic)
Government
Strong political will from the NCD PHA (memo to all clinics to adjust clinic hours)
CLM program given prominence in the PNG National STI and HIV Strategy (NSHS) - 2024-2028
CLM integrated into the National HIV Data System
Identifying trainable Community Monitors; high turnover and availability of trained monitors.
Inconsistent information and social media campaigns to promote the response centre.
Some barriers are beyond the control of thee health care providers
Inability to scale up the implementation to other provinces due to limitation of funding and donor preference.
Sustainability of funding for the CLM program (currently 100% donor-funded).
Improve on data storage management
More extensive/granular data analysis and knowledge Sharing
Cost analysis of implementing CLM as part of the sustainability efforts efficiencies and has started to measures for sustainability.
Gradually scale up implementation to other provinces.
Develop KPAC policies (HR, Ethic, Finance, and Operational)
Kommuniti Wok; Senis Kamap’ Project has provided a platform for greater engagement of the KP community in NCD in addressing barriers to STI and HIV services. The strong support and active participation of the PHA leadership in CLM Activity have been crucial to the progress made.
Visit the KPAC CLM Webpage (main CLM summary): https://www.kpacpng.org/clm-recipes/clm-community-led-monitoring
