Papua New Guinea AIDS Crisis May Mirror Africa's, UN Says
By, Emma O'Brien, bloomberg.com, August 31, 2007
Papua New Guinea's AIDS epidemic may mirror the crisis in Africa as infections surge with more than 75 percent of sufferers unable to access drugs to manage the disease, the United Nations said.
``It could very much become an Africa-type situation if the required services are not in place,'' Tim Rwabuhemba, Papua New Guinea coordinator for the United Nations AIDS agency, said in an interview from the capital, Port Moresby. ``There is an urgent need for more HIV services across the board here.''
The nation of 6 million people now accounts for 90 percent of the Pacific region's HIV cases and is one of only four Asia- Pacific countries experiencing an epidemic, according to the UN. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 60 percent of all people living with the HIV virus, a total of more than 25 million people.
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, appeared in Papua New Guinea in the early 1990s and has spread to the remote highlands, a region where villagers didn't come into contact with Europeans until the 1930s.
More than half a million Papua New Guineans will be infected with the virus by 2025, resulting in a 13 percent drop in the available workforce and a 1.3 percent decline in the $15 billion economy, AusAID, Australia's development agency, said.
In 20 years, 117,000 children will have lost their mothers to AIDS and 70 percent of the country's hospital beds will be needed for patients, it estimates.
Poverty Line
Although rich in natural resources such as copper, timber and gas, about 37 percent of Papua New Guinea's population lives below the poverty line and 80 percent of people in urban areas are unemployed.
The inaccessibility of regions in Papua New Guinea and a shortage of diagnosis and anti-retroviral medication helped the virus infect almost 2 percent of the population, with new infections increasing mostly in the countryside, Rwabuhemba said.
``Stigma and discrimination is an issue as education programs, particularly in the highlands, haven't made the impact we would desire,'' Rwabuhemba said. ``People have not come to terms with this situation and there is an irrational fear.''
Allegations emerged this week that AIDS sufferers in the Southern Highlands province were buried alive by their families because they became too sick to be cared for.
``That was a very big slap for us when we saw it on the front page of the newspaper, a great shock,'' Rwabuhemba said. ``We cannot substantiate it.''
Health worker Margaret Marabe said she saw five people buried in the Tari district of the province, where she conducts AIDS awareness campaigns, local newspaper the Post Courier said Aug. 27. They cried out for help as they were covered with soil, Marabe is reported to have said.
Tribal Tensions
Police are investigating the claim and the National AIDS Council has been instructed to conduct an awareness campaign in the region, Health Minister Michael Ogio said in a faxed statement.
Tensions between tribes and a lack of infrastructure in the Southern Highlands has hampered services to the region, according to the government.
``Without knowledge of what HIV is and the impact of it, people in the area certainly would show strong fear,'' Ogio said. ``The stigma and discrimination which may result in families neglecting people living with HIV/AIDS in the area still has to be addressed more aggressively.''
Cases Increase
HIV cases in Papua New Guinea have been growing at a rate of 30 percent a year since 1997, according to the UN. Heterosexual sex is the most common means of infection, Rwabuhemba said.
Infection often develops around mining and logging sites and along transport routes such as the Highlands Highway, which runs through the middle of the country, said Paul Barker, director of the Institute of National Affairs in Port Moresby.
``People have multiple wives, particularly in the highlands. I knew of one man in a very remote location with 60, so that contributes,'' he said. ``There's a strong social stigma and while people's attitudes have started to change, it's been slow, especially in rural areas.''
When AIDS was first discovered highlanders blamed the boils, night sweats and weight loss on sorcery and retribution was common, Barker said. While awareness has grown in the past decade, sufferers are still routinely dumped at hospitals and medical centers and not visited by their family.
``Sometimes all their relatives may have died as well so the hospitals often shoulder the burden of burials and care,'' he said.
Papua New Guinea shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia and was an Australian colony until 1975.
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O'Brien in Wellington on eobrien6@bloomberg.net
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=ag58R85zpjE0&refer=australia
Papua New Guinea's AIDS epidemic may mirror the crisis in Africa as infections surge with more than 75 percent of sufferers unable to access drugs to manage the disease, the United Nations said.
``It could very much become an Africa-type situation if the required services are not in place,'' Tim Rwabuhemba, Papua New Guinea coordinator for the United Nations AIDS agency, said in an interview from the capital, Port Moresby. ``There is an urgent need for more HIV services across the board here.''
The nation of 6 million people now accounts for 90 percent of the Pacific region's HIV cases and is one of only four Asia- Pacific countries experiencing an epidemic, according to the UN. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 60 percent of all people living with the HIV virus, a total of more than 25 million people.
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, appeared in Papua New Guinea in the early 1990s and has spread to the remote highlands, a region where villagers didn't come into contact with Europeans until the 1930s.
More than half a million Papua New Guineans will be infected with the virus by 2025, resulting in a 13 percent drop in the available workforce and a 1.3 percent decline in the $15 billion economy, AusAID, Australia's development agency, said.
In 20 years, 117,000 children will have lost their mothers to AIDS and 70 percent of the country's hospital beds will be needed for patients, it estimates.
Poverty Line
Although rich in natural resources such as copper, timber and gas, about 37 percent of Papua New Guinea's population lives below the poverty line and 80 percent of people in urban areas are unemployed.
The inaccessibility of regions in Papua New Guinea and a shortage of diagnosis and anti-retroviral medication helped the virus infect almost 2 percent of the population, with new infections increasing mostly in the countryside, Rwabuhemba said.
``Stigma and discrimination is an issue as education programs, particularly in the highlands, haven't made the impact we would desire,'' Rwabuhemba said. ``People have not come to terms with this situation and there is an irrational fear.''
Allegations emerged this week that AIDS sufferers in the Southern Highlands province were buried alive by their families because they became too sick to be cared for.
``That was a very big slap for us when we saw it on the front page of the newspaper, a great shock,'' Rwabuhemba said. ``We cannot substantiate it.''
Health worker Margaret Marabe said she saw five people buried in the Tari district of the province, where she conducts AIDS awareness campaigns, local newspaper the Post Courier said Aug. 27. They cried out for help as they were covered with soil, Marabe is reported to have said.
Tribal Tensions
Police are investigating the claim and the National AIDS Council has been instructed to conduct an awareness campaign in the region, Health Minister Michael Ogio said in a faxed statement.
Tensions between tribes and a lack of infrastructure in the Southern Highlands has hampered services to the region, according to the government.
``Without knowledge of what HIV is and the impact of it, people in the area certainly would show strong fear,'' Ogio said. ``The stigma and discrimination which may result in families neglecting people living with HIV/AIDS in the area still has to be addressed more aggressively.''
Cases Increase
HIV cases in Papua New Guinea have been growing at a rate of 30 percent a year since 1997, according to the UN. Heterosexual sex is the most common means of infection, Rwabuhemba said.
Infection often develops around mining and logging sites and along transport routes such as the Highlands Highway, which runs through the middle of the country, said Paul Barker, director of the Institute of National Affairs in Port Moresby.
``People have multiple wives, particularly in the highlands. I knew of one man in a very remote location with 60, so that contributes,'' he said. ``There's a strong social stigma and while people's attitudes have started to change, it's been slow, especially in rural areas.''
When AIDS was first discovered highlanders blamed the boils, night sweats and weight loss on sorcery and retribution was common, Barker said. While awareness has grown in the past decade, sufferers are still routinely dumped at hospitals and medical centers and not visited by their family.
``Sometimes all their relatives may have died as well so the hospitals often shoulder the burden of burials and care,'' he said.
Papua New Guinea shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia and was an Australian colony until 1975.
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O'Brien in Wellington on eobrien6@bloomberg.net
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=ag58R85zpjE0&refer=australia
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 10:58 am
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