Global AIDS - Papua New Guinea

July 27, 2004 Post-Courier newspaper - AIDS pandemic threat in PNG

PAPUA New Guinea faces the threat of an AIDS pandemic of Sub-Saharan Africa proportions unless enormous efforts are taken to stem the virus spread, a leading Australian AIDS expert has warned.

Dr David Cooper, from Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital and a co-chair of the scientific meetings during the recently held International AIDS conference in Bangkok, described the trend in the virus spread in PNG as alarming.

“Most people feel that of all the countries in the region, Papua New Guinea has the greatest chance of having a Sub Saharan African style type epidemic,” Dr Cooper said.

United Nations (UN) AIDS estimates for Sub Saharan Africa are that at least 25 million people or 7.5 per cent of the population between 15 and 49 years are HIV positive.

In Botswana, some 330,000 people or just fewer than 40 per cent of the adult population has the HIV virus.

In PNG, the rate of new infections is growing by 50 per cent a year, the highest in the region — with 16,000 cases according to estimates reported in the United Nations 2004 Report on the Global Aids pandemic.

In 2001, the number of cases stood at 10,000.

Some regional AIDS experts have described PNG as having lost control of the problem.

Dr Cooper said the spread of the AIDS virus in PNG was due to adults having multiple partners together with inadequate control over sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Unless there’s an enormous effort to try to educate people about condom use, try to reduce the way women are perceived in these kinds of societies and reduce their vulnerability, the virus will continue to spread, he said.

There was also a need to strengthen health care systems, a difficult task when developing nations are faced with several priorities.

“Countries like Papua New Guinea were huge challenges and people were not very optimistic given what has happened in Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

In Port Moresby yesterday, Health Minister Melchoir Pep said the Government’s policy on AIDS would have to be reviewed to have the Government possibly fund a massive HIV/AIDS prevention awareness program.

Mr Pep said this during Grievance Debate in Parliament yesterday following his return from the international conference on AIDS in Bangkok, Thailand.

He said while there were 8300 registered HIV/AIDS infections, authorities estimate between 40,000 to 60,000 could be affected out of the 5.2 million people of PNG.

“It is no longer a health problem alone. It is a governance problem,” Mr Pep said in Tok Pisin.

“The Government must fund it,” he added, referring to the awareness and prevention requirements.

Mr Pep said so far the aid donors have carried the funding aspects of this escalating problem alone and were getting upset because of the lack of funding involvement by the PNG Government.

He called for further dialogue among families and clans to help raise awareness and prevention of this encroaching problem.

“We have to educate everybody in every sector in every society,” he said, adding he would bring a major policy statement to the floor of Parliament that would, hopefully, result in the full support of the Government and future governments.