PRIDA is again  facilitating a journal club focused on microbiology and infectious diseases.  If you wish to join, do this via this WhatsApp group . You will then receive communications about session access and reviewed papers. 

The sessions run via zoom every second Friday and are used to bring together helpful discussion on interesting health literature relevant to LMIC locations. With presenters from many different countries, any range of medical topics are encouraged to be presented from the relevant peer reviewed literature. The course facilitators assist presenters to select a paper for review and are able to provide practical assistance prior to their session via zoom.

Access is free and there is no obligation to present or comment, however all are encouraged to participate and ask questions. The sessions are not recorded.

First session will be on the 1st March 2022
These are commencement times by location/time zone:

7.15am: New Delhi, India
7.30am: Kathmandu, Nepal
9am: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
11am: Dili, Timor-Leste
12pm: Port Moresby, PNG
1pm: Honiara, Solomon Islands
1pm: Port Vila, Vanuatu
2pm: Suva, Fiji
3pm: West Samoa Time, WST

The first cohort of scientists enrolled in the PRIDA/PPTC Medical Microbiology diploma have graduated from their course.

The 21 graduates of the course included participants from PNG, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Samoa.

The aim of this course was to sustainably and rapidly develop microbiology capacity in the Pacific and South East Asian countries by training a sufficient number of skilled and experienced microbiology scientists who want to
progress further, as well as foster relationships and promote a network of scientists both within and
outside the Pacific.

The course provided teaching that is locally applicable, using resources that were currently available.
Microbiology is very practical and so best suits small group training with plenty of hands‐on
practical skill application. As local expertise is currently lacking in the Pacific,
the course was facilitated by overseas trained pathologists and senior scientists, predominantly
from Australia and New Zealand, given their proximity to the Pacific Islands.

The 1 year program included:
– Online weekly interactive lecture series
– 1:1 bench training and mentoring in home country
– Regular supervised laboratory rounds (in person and online)
– Presentation of case studies
– Review and development of standard operating procedures, a laboratory based quality improvement project, and a final exam.

Topics covered in the weekly lectures and assessments included:

The 2023 course is due to begin in July and EOI details for enrolment will be posted soon.

PRIDA and PIOA (PACIFIC ISLANDS ORTHOPAEDIC ASSOCIATION) have just set up a WhatsApp group  – please invite your appropriate local surgeons , registrars and physicians on to it if they may require assistance with specific cases.

It is convened by Dr Des Soares who is to link in the network of Pacific Islands orthopods.

Please join using this link and ensure that your number also contains your name (with location in brackets).

Pacific Islands Orthopaedic Association

PIOA Antibiotic Guidelines

The Pacific Region Infectious Diseases Association (PRIDA), formally established in 2017, is a group of medical and biomedical health care professionals who work in the Pacific region in a voluntary capacity to improve the diagnosis, management and prevention of infectious diseases.

We collaborate with Pacific-based hospitals and health care professionals (including physicians, nurses, scientists and pharmacists), and provide mentoring and training at a grass roots level, to promote sustainable control of infectious diseases in the Pacific.

We strive to coordinate our activities with relevant governmental organisations and external organisations that have an active presence in the Pacific.

Understanding the desperate need for these projects in the Pacific, our healthcare professionals donate their time and expertise in good faith. As there are no professional fees and administration costs, 100% of funding is invested into the project to cover essential expenses. Funding is critical to the success of ongoing and future projects.

Our objectives are consultation, partnership, support, knowledge, empowerment, capacity building, communication, sustainability.

Our aim is to improve the local knowledge, diagnosis and management about infectious diseases in the Pacific region.

We focus on the currently neglected areas of infectious disease management including bacteriology, sepsis and life-threatening infection, antimicrobial resistance and hospital infection prevention.

An exciting day for the Solomon Islands with the arrival of the donated Blood culture instrument for the microbiology laboratory at the National Referral Hospital Honiara.  

From left to right: Elliot Puiahi, Joseph Ghidu, Cecil Tofirima and Hilda Zoleveke (May, 2018).

We are proud to announce the collaboration between the Pacific Region Infectious Diseases Association (PRIDA), Diagnostic Microbiology Development program (DMDP) and Therapeutic Guidelines (TG) to bring together an online clinical pharmacy and infectious disease management course for hospital pharmacists in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste in July 2021.

The Pacific Region Infectious Diseases Association (PRIDA) are a group of medical and biomedical healthcare professionals who work in the Pacific Region in a voluntary capacity with an aim to improve diagnosis, management and prevention of infectious diseases.

The Diagnostic Microbiology Development Program (DMDP) are a team based in Cambodia who seek to build capacity for infectious diseases diagnosis by strengthening the infrastructure and technical capabilities of laboratory staff in clinical microbiology, biochemistry and hematology and by strengthening the capacity of health care providers to accurately diagnose infectious diseases, primarily in low resource settings.

Therapeutic Guidelines (TG) is an organisation which develops independent Australian guidelines for a wide range of topics. The TG Partnership Program aims to support the quality use of medicines and the development and distribution of guidelines in low resource settings, usually in low- and middle-income countries.

We are seeking hospital pharmacists with a special interest and expertise in infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) to provide ongoing mentorship and support to the pharmacists of the Pacific Island Countries participating in the online clinical pharmacy and infectious disease management course.