| Business |
Better policies with improved HIV
data
It is exactly 20 years since the
first HIV/AIDS cases were detected in PNG. In recent years,
several overseas reports have drawn up nightmare scenarios of
likely outcomes. Most of these emanated from Australian government
and research institutes.
Suggestions were made that HIV/AIDS was much worse than official
PNG estimates, along with criticisms that there has been a lack of
commitment among successive PNG governments. Much of these
criticisms can be put to rest following the release on Wednesday
of a landmark government report, “The 2007 Estimation Report on
the HIV Epidemic in Papua New Guinea”.
Exhaustive studies of available data, including adoption of
sophisticated estimation techniques used by the joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS and the World Health Organisation,
show that PNG HIV prevalence rate is 1.28% among adults aged
15-49.
This is significantly lower than the 1.7% median estimate made by
the 2nd National Consensus Workshop in 2004 or the earlier
estimates by the first workshop in 2000.
There is certainly no reason to believe, as overseas reports
prepared by AusAID and the World Bank have intimated, that PNG
authorities were somehow trying to hide the true picture and,
consequently, not treating the problem with adequate seriousness.
This is not to deny that HIV/ AIDS has reached alarming
proportions.
The government of the day seriously began to tackle this issue in
1997, 10 years after discovery of the first cases. At the time of
the creation of the National AIDS Council Act 1997, the cumulative
number of HIV infections was 918.
Government action was given further impetus in 2004 when the
National Executive Council moved the National AIDS Council to the
Prime Minister’s Department. This coincided with the launch of a
strategic plan for 2006-2010 that had the express aim of reducing
the HIV prevalence rate to below 1% by 2010. Given the latest
data, this was clearly unrealistic.
Nevertheless the 2007 report released by outgoing Health Minister
Sir Peter Barter is a landmark event that ranks among the most
important initiatives of the outgoing Somare Government, which
appears set to regain office on Monday following its convincing
success at the recent national elections.
Although the estimated rate of infections is lower than previous
estimates, the cumulative rate of infections remains very
worrying. As Sir Peter warned: “We must not become complacent and
think we will not become infected or affected by the epidemic. The
impact of the epidemic is being felt in every province in the
country. The HIV epidemic is becoming a crisis.”
The new report, which for the first time takes into account a much
wider database including statistics from all ante natal clinics,
showed there were an estimated 46,275 people living with HIV at
the end of last year. However, only 18,484 have been diagnosed
with almost 28,000 people unaware of their HIV status, making them
an extremely high risk group in government efforts to contain the
epidemic.
One of the greatest fears is that this year it appears likely HIV
prevalence in urban areas will be overtaken by the infection rate
in rural areas, where 85% of the country’s six million people
live. The urban prevalence rate is 1.32% with an estimated 7,415
people living with HIV, compared with 1.27% in rural areas where
38,860 people lived with HIV last year.
A higher rural infection rate presents a scary scenario on several
grounds; the relatively poor state of health services in rural
areas, difficulty in accessing voluntary counselling and testing
facilities and communication problems among diverse language
groups, including large numbers of people who are illiterate.
Sir Peter Barter, the Ministry of Health and the National AIDS
Council, along with collaborators from AusAID and other
international expert groups, deserve to be commended in providing
much more accurate data on HIV/AIDS prevalence.
The data suggests that efforts need to be redoubled, if that were
possible, particularly in the National Capital District and
Western Highlands, where HIV infections are very high. Every
effort must be made to encourage people in urban environments, who
have undergone learning experiences about possible behavioural and
lifestyle changes, to communicate their knowledge to relatives and
friends in rural areas, helping to make the battle against
HIV/AIDS infections more of a national endeavour.
 
|
