CORE-PNG

Written By Patrick Tappouras

Civil-Military Operations for Response to Health Emergencies in Papua New Guinea

Field Epidemiology in Action (FEiA) is leading a first-of-its-kind civil-military training initiative in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to strengthen coordination between defence and civilian health responders in the face of public health emergencies.

Known as CORE-PNG, the program brings together military and civilian health professionals to build a faster, more connected emergency response system — protecting lives in PNG and contributing to regional stability across the Pacific.

The Program

CORE-PNG is funded by a grant through the Australian Government's Strategic Policy Grants Program.

The program is delivered in partnership with:

  • PNG National Department of Health (NDoH)

  • Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF)

  • Australian Defence Force

What we're doing

CORE-PNG integrates Papua New Guinea's Rapid Response Teams (RRT) and Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) with defence emergency operations, strengthening the person-to-person links, operational systems and technical skills needed to respond effectively to a health emergency.

Training is practical, hands-on and collaborative. Military and civilian health professionals train side by side through immersive, scenario-based exercises — including a real-life field simulation to contain a disease outbreak following a natural disaster — testing coordination across sectors under real-time pressure.

Training activities include:

  • Tabletop exercise to review operational systems including incident management structures, legal frameworks, access to finance and technical skills such as rapid needs assessments, outbreak response, situation reports

  • Real-world field simulation where civil and military emergency responders test their coordination and communication during a joint response to a disease outbreak.

    Opportunities to share experience, look for opportunities to strengthen the way civ-mil teams work together during a health emergency

  • Identification of systems and skills that require strengthening and developing and action plans to implement post-training

Why this matters

PNG faces significant and recurring risks from natural disasters and disease outbreaks. Effective emergency response depends on civilian and military teams working together — sharing information, resources and decision-making in real time.

CORE-PNG builds the foundations for that coordination: strengthening PNG's domestic capacity to respond to emergencies such as pandemics or natural disasters, while contributing to a more resilient Pacific region.

Patrick Tappouras
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