AIDS epidemic in PNG

A United Nations’ agency has labelled Papua New Guinea’s growing HIV and AIDS public health emergency an epidemic.

Papua New Guinea has well over 90 per cent of the Pacific region’s HIV cases.

The Executive Director of UNAIDS, and UN Assistant Secretary General Jan Beagle, and the agency’s regional director Steve Kraus, have been to PNG to see the scale of the problem for themselves.

Kraus says people living in highly populated areas such as Port Moresby, Hela Province and Lae are most at risk.

“Across the country we see an epidemic of HIV, which we feared not so many years ago would be a generalised epidemic.

“I think increasingly what we’ve seen, like other countries in our region, Papua New Guinea is seeing the epidemic localised in certain cities, certain provinces and certain populations,” he said.

Released in March this year, the UNAIDS latest report into the crisis in PNG indicates steps are being taken to try identify people who are in need of treatment.

According to the report released in 2005 there were only 17 HIV testing sites across the country – by 2013 that had increased to 329.

Kraus says increasing treatment options as well as developing a campaign centred on community involvement will be most effective in addressing the situation.

“So it’s really important to work with local authorities, local leaders, and sometimes indigenous leaders to try and really help them understand their epidemic,” he said.

“Then we can work together with them to create a sustainable response endorsed by the community themselves in which they participate.”