AusAID team checks on its HIV/AIDS projects
By JAMES APA GUMUNO
REPRESENTATIVES from the Australian Government will be inspecting various HIV/AIDS programmes in the country that are funded by AusAID.
The purpose of the visit is to check how the funds are used to carry out HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in different provinces.
Three representatives from the Sanap Wantaim programme funded by AusAID and in partnership with the National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS), visited the Lumusa/Baiyer district in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, early this week to inspect various programmes undertaken by the Baptist Union of PNG (BUPNG) from the funds they had allocated last year.
Peter Izzard, Stephen Deklin and Dr Ninkama Moiya made it a must to check the different programmes undertaken by the BUPNG.
Mr Izzard told the Yanda sub-committee on HIV/AIDS in the Baiyer area during their meeting at Tinsely Baptist hospital yesterday that it was up to the people to implement their programmes to help minimise the spread of HIV/AIDS in the district and province.
He said the Sanap Wantaim programme worked closely with NACS and funded many main stream churches and a good number of non-governmental organisations in the country to carry out awareness, provide counselling and deal with people living with the HIV/AIDS virus in their area.
He said their visit was to learn how the programmes would be implemented.
Dr Moiya told the committee they must take the lead in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
He said that HIV/AIDS had penetrated into the rural areas and has already claimed many lives.
He said the challenge was with the group to take the lead and help save the lives of their people.
Dr Moiya, who is the advisor with the Sanap Wantaim programme said they depend heavily on group like Yanda sub-committee on HIV/AIDS in the district to implement their programmes.
BUPNG HIV/AIDS programme manager Micheal Pagasa told the AusAID representatives that since the church taken on board HIV/AIDS programme as a separate ministry in 2006, they had made a big impact.
Mr Pagasa said the church used existing health facilities like the hospitals, health centres, and aid posts in Western Highlands, Enga and Sandaun provinces to carry out the awareness and provide counselling services for HIV/AIDS sufferers.
He said that since the church took lead, they have involved their pastors as counsellors for those sufferes.
Mr Pagasa told the representatives that they now use the facilities provided by their hospitals but they also needed to build their own voluntarily testing centres and also a center to house people living with the virus.
He added that the so far they are progressing well by working closely with the provincial AIDS council.
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