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One enemy...but war
of words can be confusing
TRUDE SCARLETT EPSTEIN
stresses the need to understand the socio-cultural background of
HIV/AIDS
It's always been considered a good
idea to confuse the enemy so as to throw him (or her) off
balance...but this can also backfire unless you know what you're
doing!
In recent weeks we've read of the war of words that's once again
increased tensions between Australia and PNG, this time in the
area of HIV/AIDS with the Canberra think-tank, the Centre for
Independent Studies, suggesting that the dreaded disease would
strike one million people by 2020 with the PNG government largely
to blame and Dr Clement Malau, the founding director of PNG's
National AIDS Council returning fire.
The Canberra study claimed aid money was not getting to where it
was needed in terms of infrastructure; the government was lacking
in leadership, a low baseline of general health had created a
health emergency; and the status of women was too low.
Dr Malau quickly pointed out that "sensationalism" wasn't helping
anyone and that it was unfair to apply global standards of
practice to a young nation like PNG that was just 31 years old,
and, crucially, that PNG was "..socio culturally diverse" which
required all observers to apply "... in -depth research into the
social and cultural context."
Dr Malau is concerned that there's "a dangerous trend" in this
absence of research and he's quite right. He's also rightly
pointed to a range of measures that the government's taken to
arrest the spread of the disease.
But the chilling reality is that the infection rate is not
falling, it's rising by the day. The key focus must be on changing
sexual behaviour and that means those people involved in the
creation of AIDS-awareness messages have got to wade into taboo
rivers.
Putting a tentative toe into the water is simply a waste of time
and money. Sex is one of the smallest words in all of PNG's
hundreds of languages....and it's no mystery.
PNG is certainly a young country, but there's no excuse for
ignorance when life and death are at stake.
PNG has to grow up fast...if it's to survive to grow up at all! A
vibrant young nation can have no room for a belief in witches and
sorcerers. This insidious and traditional belief system has to be
uprooted. It has no place in PNG's tribal cultures. As long as the
outside world can constantly read in our media that young and old
alike are being brutally murdered because they're being accused of
being witches or sorcerers then PNG will indeed invite the risk of
being described as a land of savages!
The most recent reports of such murders have been describing
nothing less than savagery. We must get real and face that!
Outside commentators do need to temper their remarks but the PNG
government must tackle the problem of HIV infection at its roots,
not just acknowledging that the problems and answers lie in social
and cultural studies, but actually tackling them in practical
terms.
That doesn't mean shoving condoms in the faces of remote
villagers. Young men especially are rejecting educational reforms
that are seeing teachers talk about sexual organs whereas in many
cultures this is taboo. The attempt to break these taboos can help
to explain why any advice on protective sex is likely to fall on
deaf ears.
Extensive and intensive studies to see how best AIDS can be fought
against within the existing socio-cultural backgrounds of Papua
New Guinea have to be given the very highest priority. How often
have I sought to hammer that message to all and sundry?
And the results of those studies must be translated into action as
a matter of urgency.
As Dr Malau has warned, insensitivity can only create further
obstacles and animosity. But the absence of a real drive to uproot
a witches and sorcerers mentality will only continue to keep on
killing the PNG people, quite apart from AIDS itself. We won't be
able to blame that on any outsider...whether from Australia or
anywhere else. And would we want to?
 
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