Apathy to AIDS a killer
THE battle against HIV/AIDS in our country began as a low-key operation.
There were widespread beliefs that only certain sectors of the population would be affected by the disease and they were sectors with behaviour patterns outside the recognised norms of PNG society.
Such comforting illusions rapidly evaporated as it became clear that HIV and eventually AIDS had the ability to affect every sector of Papua New Guinean society, every social stratum and every age group.
Slowly – in retrospect very slowly – the message began to sink in.
The wheels of government began to turn and the threat the disease posed to PNG society was officially acknowledged.
A trickle of funds was set aside to try and make the public aware of the nature and potential spread of the virus and the devastating effects it could have on our people, their way of life and the economic and social development of the nation.
Overseas friends offered help.
These were no token gestures, but a hugely significant step towards fighting off this potentially overpowering illness.
Australia was the prime mover in this attempt to stop HIV/AIDS before it decimated the country.
It needs to be said loudly and often that the Australian support for the anti-AIDS initiative was extraordinarily generous and more importantly, continues to be sustained.
PNG benefited not only from tens of millions of Australian dollars but also from the pooled expertise of skilled personnel with experience in fighting this disease.
Other nations supported this initiative and the result was a group of international governments offering major assistance to our own administration in order to attack the epidemic.
So where does PNG stand today in the struggle to eliminate HIV and AIDS?
In common with all the major international bodies monitoring the global progress of this disease, we wish we could give an accurate answer.
But none is available.
In our estimation, what was once a unified attack has become so diversified that it is impossible to assess where PNG stands in terms of this illness.
We simply have no accurate basis for assessment.
The huge sums of money that have been poured into awareness campaigns may well have achieved a great deal.
Those who point to the increasing incidence of HIV and AIDS surely miss the point – had there been no awareness campaign, the rate of infection could well have been dramatically higher.
Now we learn of concern in our border areas, particularly those with Australia across the Torres Strait.
There are many social and cultural reasons for the continuing ebb and flow of peoples across that border.
But the reason that seems to us to be of greatest concern has little to do with traditions or cultures. It’s the perception that treatment for HIV and AIDS is better on the other side of the border.
Acknowledging this perception, Health Secretary Dr Clement Malau says: “If we improve our health system here ... we avoid people having to go across the border for treatment.”
There is a growing, and we believe, highly dangerous sense of apathy about HIV and AIDS in PNG.
In the absence of convincing figures indicating the rate of increase in infection, many people are now dismissive of the threat posed by the disease.
They see it as a well-orchestrated campaign by the media, crafted with one eye on profits.
That perception must be stamped out before it saps all the drive and energy that are now being marshalled to fight HIV/AIDS.
The reality remains.
People are still dying of AIDS and people are still being infected with HIV.
Our attack must now be directed at finding ways of determining how many people fall into these categories.
The medical skills and the drugs to help victims lengthen their life span are available in our country.
We have to redouble our efforts to achieve two goals.
First, we must have reliable figures, the basis upon which our medical, legal and social response can be constructed.
And second, it is time to focus on looking after the victims of this disease, allocating wards and training more doctors and nursing staff to meet the ravages of a disease that remains 100% fatal.
Editorial