BY ILYA GRIDNEFF

AAP - AUSTRALIAN AID to PNG is going back to the future with health patrols to isolated villages retracing steps made more than 60 years ago when Australia brought the New World to locals.

Patrol officers, known as Kiaps, were the young Australian officials who often trekked for days in the harsh PNG environment spreading notions of government and law and order to villagers who had never seen white faces before.

While a product of bygone colonial era, the Kiaps brought much-needed health supplies, new tools, provided basic education and prolonged villagers' life expectancy.

The reality now for the majority of PNG villagers is that consecutive PNG governments since independence in 1975 have failed to deliver in these areas despite huge resource revenues.

Provincial governments and local level governments also struggle to provide the most basic of essentials to PNG's six million people, of which 85% live in rural subsistence farming settings.

With the Kiap now a distant memory and Canberra wanting to avoid any accusation of "paternalism" towards its former territory, PNG is now filled with swarms of highly paid advisers and consultants who rarely get their boots muddy or leave their air-conditioned Port Moresby offices.

The experts have no shortage of goodwill plans, development strategies and policies to get PNG on track, but despite billions of dollars in aid and decades of government 'capacity building', PNG languishes with some of the world's worst social, health and education indicators.

But late last month, in a significant shift of approach, an Australian group comprising a special forces soldier and government doctor and nurse team helped PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) medics treat 206 people for various ailments in the Goilala District, Central Province.

The Australian aid agency, AusAID, sponsored the mission, along with three previous treks.

In pouring rain, the team trekked for a week through the rugged Owen Stanley ranges doing everything from immunising children to treating cuts and blisters and providing medicines for arthritis, malaria and intestinal worms.

Goilala district administrator Titus Girau, who trekked with the team, said it was inspiring not just for local administrators but for villagers who rarely see outsiders.

"When I was a boy going to school in the '70s we had regular Kiap patrols in the district but in the 80s and early 90s much of this stopped because the government just couldn't do it.

"This recent effort really helps to lift morale of the district.

"Health and education is vital in the rural setting and sadly we've failed to provide these basic services but this patrol motivates the district and administrators to get on top of the issue," he said.

Mr Girau said the lack of basic infrastructure such as roads and electricity kept villagers stuck in a time warp.

"How can things improve when the most basic of human rights or living standards don't exist?" he said.

Head of AusAID in PNG, Stephanie Copus-Campbell, said Australia's support for foot patrols was part of a "significant shift" in the agency's approach to helping the PNG government provide better services.

"We are sharpening our focus to work more directly on the ground, there is a significant reorientation to work at the sub-national (government) level to see on the ground results," she said.

Ms Copus-Campbell said the shift was part of a gradual policy change but acknowledged it was also in response to this year's independent review recommending Australia focus on where it could make the biggest difference.

The report also found "widespread dissatisfaction" from both sides with Australia's annual $457 million PNG aid program and has since resulted in a third of all advisers being cut.

"We are focused on achieving results, and my job is to ensure we use our resources and expertise to have better outcomes," she said.

"There is no point in having aid posts in remote areas if they are not manned or stocked with drugs, these sort of patrols build capacity in the provincial and local governments to fulfill their role and to revitalise health in the rural setting," she said.

She said four foot patrols had been held in Central Province so far, and there were plans to trial similar approaches in other provinces.