AIDS death toll to reach 1mil: Report

By CHRISTINE PAKAKOTA

AN independent report predicts that a million people will die of HIV/AIDS if the Government does not tackle the problem head on.

The report by the Australian think-tank, the Centre for Independent Studies, suggests that the epidemic would affect a quarter of the population by 2020, but said the problem was not due to a lack of aid.

The report’s author, research fellow Miranda Darling Tobias said there was enough money coming into the country to fight AIDS but the lack of infrastructure meant the money was not going where it was needed.
Instead, Ms Tobias said the rapid rise of those infected was due to PNG’s low baseline of general health, with a population debilitated by a variety of diseases.

She said the low status of women was another factor and she believed it was up to the Government to show political leadership in combating the disease.

The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in PNG had created a health emergency, she said.

The report said at least 120,000 Papua New Guineans were likely to have HIV/AIDS and infections were spreading quickly.

Infection rates were now estimated to be 2% to 3% of the population.
If present rising infection trends persist, 18% of the population could be affected by 2010 and 25% could be affected by 2020.

PNG could lose a million people to the disease. The decline in the labour force and in gross domestic product per capita would be catastrophic, the report stated.

“The purpose of this paper is not to allocate blame but to present the dimensions of HIV/AIDS infection and its spread.

“It outlines the biological, social and political drivers responsible for the rapid rise of HIV/AIDS infections so that practical steps to arrest the current trends can be identified.”

In PNG, HIV/AIDS is spreading through heterosexual sex and social conventions of promiscuity.
“Australia has a direct interest in PNG’s HIV/AIDS epidemic because increasing numbers of PNG nationals are accessing the Queensland health system in the Torres Strait islands and on Cape York.”