Dr Roy Scragg was the Director of Public Health for the Australian Administration of the (then) Territory of Papua New Guinea from 1957 to 1970. He also served in the PNG Parliament as a member of the Legislative Council and Executive Council PNG and as Member, House of Assembly and Constitutional Committee from 1957 to 1968. Dr Scragg had a large impact on the development of the public health program in Papua New Guinea, and undertook pioneering research into infertility.
Roy Scragg was born in Feilding, New Zealand, later moving to South Australia where he obtained his medical degree from Adelaide University in 1946. He then joined the Department of Public Health for the Australian Administration of the (then) Territory of Papua New Guinea. Dr Scragg obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Sydney School of Public Health in 1950, shortly before he began his ground-breaking research into infertility in New Ireland. He discovered the role of gonorrhoea in infertility in New Ireland, which had led to a decline in population. Twenty years later, in 1975, the WHO commented that the “most complete epidemiological study on the prevalence of infertility, pregnancy wastage, and child loss is that by Scragg on New Ireland in the West Pacific.” He received a Doctorate in Medicine from Adelaide University in 1955 for his thesis on the depopulation of New Ireland.
In 1957, Dr Roy Scragg was appointed the Director of Public Health for the Australian Administration of the (then) Territory of Papua New Guinea from 1957. He succeeded Sir John Gunther in the post. He ensured that the country was covered with a network of aid posts and health services, even in remote regions, to control the major diseases and causes of death. During his time as Director of Public Health, the crude death rate (per UN estimates) in PNG declined from 27.4/1000 to 16.5/1000.
Dr Scragg promoted the training of PNG nationals as doctors, nurses, and medical personnel, paving the way for independence. Although he had to send PNG nationals to Fiji for medical training, Dr Scragg was an active participant in the establishment of health science education in PNG and the establishment of the Medical School within the University of PNG.
On his return to Australia, Dr Scragg continued contributing to scholarship and public life. He served as a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, president of the Public Health Association of Australia and life member of the Australasian Epidemiological Association, among other positions. In 1971 Scragg was recognised as an officer of the Order of the British Empire and in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) to mark his significant contributions to medicine, epidemiology and medical associations. He earned a master of public health in 1982 from the Sydney School of Public Health and was made an honorary doctor of Adelaide University in 2014. Dr Roy Scragg died in 2022.