UNAIDS report reveals Papua New Guinea's startling HIV/AIDS infection rate
Pastor Dale Morgan
*
*The epidemic on our doorstep: UNAIDS report reveals Papua New Guinea's
startling HIV infection rate*
27 Nov 2006 22:27:00 GMT
Source: ChildFund Australia
Newly released figures on the state of the world's HIV/AIDS incidence
rates have highlighted Papua New Guinea as one of the world's emerging
crisis areas.
According to the 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, HIV/AIDS
diagnoses have increased by approximately 30 per cent annually since
1997, with an estimated 60,000 Papua New Guineans living with the
disease in 2005.
High levels of violence against women, erratic condom use and a lack of
access to prevention education are cited as the major causes of the
growing epidemic.
"Combating HIV infection rates with preventative education and community
health programs is the most effect way to abate the spread of AIDS,"
says Nigel Spence, CEO of ChildFund Australia.
"ChildFund Australia works with local communities in PNG to educate
young people about the dangers of unprotected sex, but there is a long
way to go. Sadly, it is often children who are hardest hit when a parent
or both parents die as a result of AIDS, or when an unborn child is
infected in the womb."
According to Mr Spence, intensive education and greater awareness of the
virus through youth groups and peer education, combined with increased
condom availability and usage, will give Papua New Guineans the chance
to curb these worrying statistics before they reach the epidemic levels
of sub-Saharan Africa.
But he added: "To combat rising infection rates, a co-ordinated,
nationwide approach to the crisis is essential. It is extremely
important for the Papua New Guinean government, churches and agencies
such as ChildFund to work together if we are to have any kind of
positive impact in the long-term.
"Due to the remote nature of many communities in PNG, local government
must play a role in awareness education and provision of medical
treatment to all members of the population."
Results from the UNAIDS report also reveal that almost a quarter of a
million children aged under 15 were living with HIV in 2003 and 2005 in
South Africa. South Africa also had the highest number of children
orphaned by AIDS in 2003 and 2005, with a staggering 1200,000 children
left without one or both parents as a result of AIDS.
Mr Spence said: "With the release of these global HIV/AIDS figures,
awareness campaigns such as World AIDS Day on 1 December have a
particular importance in uniting people around the globe in the fight
against HIV/AIDS.
"The ChildFund International network, which operates in over 50
developing countries, is committed to increasing awareness and
prevention of the disease, as well as diminishing the social stigma of
HIV/AIDS."
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of
Reuters.