Global AIDS - Papua New Guinea

Miss PNG Red Cross Contestant to open Youth HIV/AIDS Workshop - February, 2004

Popular 2003 Miss PNG Red Cross contestant Alice Solomon will open a National Youth Leadership and HIV/AIDS Workshop which is being organized by the National AIDS Council supported by the National HIV/AIDS Support Project on Monday March 1.

Alice Solomon contested the 2003 Quest under the title Miss Skala/Evoluxe sponsored by Trends. She took the unprecedented step of using the Quest as an opportunity to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in PNG. One of Alice’s initiatives was to conduct a HIV/AIDS rally in her home province of Chimbu last November, which attracted over 15,000 people. The rally featured popular PNG personalities Stanley Nandex, Patti Potts Doi and Angra Kennedy.

Alice will be drawing on her experiences in a short address to Monday’s HIV/AIDS Youth Workshop.

The Workshop will be held at the Hideaway Hotel, Port Moresby and will be attended by thirty-two young people representing every province from Provincial AIDS Committees, the Provincial Youth Commission and other NGOs.

Workshop Co-ordinator, Dr. Holly Aruwafu, said that the focus of the workshop is to increase the leadership, planning, advocacy and coordination skills of the youth leaders so they will be better equipped to contribute to the HIV response in their respective provinces.

The workshop has been developed to allow the young people participating to actively engage with issues, come up with ideas, and create strategies and plans to address the issues of young people and HIV/AIDS in their provinces.

Alice Solomon delivers her HIV/AIDS message at last November’s Stopim AIDS Nau rally in Kundiawa. (pic by Richard Dellman)

Interactive sessions will cover a range of topics from STI/HIV/AIDS, positive living and the national network of people living with HIV/AIDS, prevention strategies including drama, peer education, counseling and referral systems, youth-friendly health services, youth driven initiatives, and legal, ethical and human rights issues. Other sessions will engage young people to identify ways to build support systems, network, and create advocacy strategies to decrease the vulnerability of young people to HIV infection.

It is anticipated that the young people participating will increase their knowledge about STI/HIV/AIDS and related human rights issues, increase their abilities to develop prevention strategies, and increase their leadership and coordination skills and their ability to interact and network with other young people, partner organizations or groups, and other stakeholders.

The workshop will promote the concept that young people can change the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Papua New Guinea. Alice Solomon will open the workshop alongside Dr. Moiya, the Director of the National AIDS Council, and Peter Lockey from AusAID.

More Information: Dr. Holly Aruwafu - Telephone: 323 6161