‘Frightening’

Sir Rabbie: Govt not doing enough to fight HIV/AIDS
By ISAAC NICHOLAS and LUCY KAPI

HIV/AIDS is the biggest challenge the country has faced since independence, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu said yesterday and he admitted that the government was not doing enough to fight the disease.

He said everyone must take a serious view of the situation or there would be dire consequences, pointing to the destruction of entire populations in parts of Africa.

He said that in Botswana, 35% of the six million people were infected.

“They have now developed counter-measures and we must learn from them,” he said in an interview with The National.

“We have to make sure we put in place appropriate strategies to ensure that we either eliminate it or reduce the incidences.”

The grave warning came as the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on HIV/AIDS revealed “frightening” statistics to the 4th Medical Symposium being held in Goroka.
Dr Banare Bun said a survey showed that seven out of 10 students at the University of Goroka had had multiple sexual partners.

He said 25% of them would usually use condoms and 50% occasionally.

He did not reveal the habit of the remaining 25%.

“This is frightening,” said the Henganofi MP.

The symposium was also told that 80% of the young people who go to nightclubs would end up having sex and that only 20% of them would use condoms.

Dr Bun said there had been a lot of talk on changing behaviours but reality was proving otherwise.

“Changing our behaviour is the key to protecting oneself against contracting the AIDS virus.

“People must listen to the awareness messages that have been preached to them over and over again,” he said.

Sir Rabbie, who will leave on Sunday for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said the government’s response to the threat was not adequate and that a lot of reliance was placed on donor agencies.

“We should be doing much more and I hope the parliamentary committee led by Dr Bun will help to create more awareness among MPs.

“Whenever he (Dr Bun) is in the country, he is doing that, and we should all be doing that,” he said.

He noted, however, that there had been some improvement in the social sector, especially health services.