About the Authority
The New Ireland Provincial Health Authority brings the province's hospital care and its community health work together in one organisation, so that families anywhere along the islands can reach the care they need.
Who we are
NIPHA is the statutory provincial health authority for New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. We are responsible for planning, funding and running health services across the province — from the referral wards of Kavieng Provincial Hospital to the aid posts that serve the smallest coastal and island villages.
Our purpose is simple to state and demanding to deliver: health care that is of good quality, that people can afford, and that they can actually get to. That means keeping clinics stocked and staffed, sending outreach teams to communities that no road reaches, and making sure a patient who needs specialist attention can be referred and moved without delay.
We work alongside the National Department of Health, the New Ireland Provincial Government, church health services and a range of research and development partners. Our headquarters sit at the Kavieng Provincial Hospital facility on Nusa Parade, on the Kavieng waterfront.
The One Health System
A reform that ended the split between hospital care and community health in New Ireland.
For many years the province ran two health organisations side by side. Kavieng General Hospital looked after clinical, curative work, while the Provincial Health Authority carried responsibility for public health across the districts. The two planned separately, budgeted separately and, too often, pulled in different directions.
Between 2016 and 2017 those two bodies were merged into a single authority under what is known locally as the One Health System. As part of the change the hospital was renamed Kavieng Provincial Hospital, reflecting its role as the referral centre for the entire province rather than a stand-alone town hospital.
The result is that curative services and public health services now sit under one authority, with one budget, one workforce plan and one set of priorities. A malaria campaign in a village, an antenatal visit at a health centre and an emergency admission in Kavieng are all handled by parts of the same system.
Today that system is delivered through four directorates — Curative Health, Public Health, Corporate and Executive Services. Read how the directorates work.
Vision, mission and values
The commitments that shape every decision the Authority makes.
Our vision
To be known across Papua New Guinea for health services of real quality — services that people can afford and that stand within reach of every community in New Ireland.
Our mission
To safeguard the physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing of the people of New Ireland by running a unified health system that carries care the full length of the province.
Our values
Fairness, so that distance and income do not decide who is treated; respect for every patient and family; honesty in how public funds and resources are used; and teamwork across our facilities and partners.
Leaving No One Behind
Our provincial priorities follow the direction set by Papua New Guinea's National Health Plan.
The National Health Plan is built around the theme “Leaving No One Behind.” For a province shaped like ours — a chain of islands stretching hundreds of kilometres — that phrase is not an abstraction. It is the test we apply to our own planning: does this service reach the people furthest from Kavieng, or only those closest to it?
Aligning with the national plan means our targets, reporting and program design connect to the country's wider health goals, and it means we prioritise the basics that make the biggest difference for rural families: immunisation, safe childbirth, malaria control, early screening and reliable supplies of essential medicines.
New Ireland at a glance
The geography and population that shape how our services are planned.
Population figures are drawn from the 2024 national census. Further provincial statistics, including facility and workforce numbers, will be added here once confirmed by the Authority.
Need to reach us?
Whether you are a patient, a partner organisation or a member of the media, our contact details and location in Kavieng are all in one place.