THE anti-retroviral therapy is benefiting people living with HIV/AIDS in the Western Highlands.
So said the chief executive officer of Mt Hagen hospital in a recent meeting with Mt Hagen business leaders.
The value of the ARV therapy is scarcely a revelation.
The National has been fighting for years to try and persuade successive governments to find a way to provide the drug cocktail to sufferers from the virus.
For far too long these attempts were met with vague assurances and excuses based on cost and an underlying ignorance about the illness. Parliamentarians knew little about how HIV/AIDS was contracted or the potential effect it might have on the future of this nation.
Many leaders buried their heads in the ground, ostrich-like, and hoped that by the time they resurfaced, HIV/AIDS would have disappeared.
In Mt Hagen, by place of origin one of the major sources of the infection, initial administration of the ARV drugs would appear to have got off to an excellent start.
That’s encouraging, but let’s not delude ourselves that the disease is well on the way to elimination.
The numbers treated with ARV drugs are impressive in themselves but probably reflect only a tiny proportion of those knowingly or unknowingly living with HIV/AIDS in that province alone.
Mt Hagen hospital is reportedly supporting more than 3,000 patients. Figures from most of the other 19 provinces remain sketchy and in some, despite the obvious need and the presence of the ARV drugs, there is little sense of urgency and a great deal of red tape in evidence.
Pathologist Dr Zure Kambati noted that only four CD4 machines were in the country, sited at hospitals in Port Moresby, Lae, Mt Hagen and Rabaul.
However, at least one other provincial hospital, Modilon in Madang, has the machine up and running, reportedly much to the relief of local HIV/AIDS patients.
The CD4 machines assist in monitoring the status of a victim’s immune system. Blood tests need to be carried out on a regular basis; some specialists recommend tests at three monthly intervals.
Given the rapidly increasing size of the PNG population and the likelihood of an accompanying growth in HIV infection figures, these machines are an essential aid in monitoring not only the individual’s status but the overall status of infected victims throughout the country.
This can help the Government plan how to handle the disease in the years ahead.
So the small number of CD4 machines of which we are aware may prove woefully inadequate.
In addition, HIV/AIDS victims need to be able to access an assessment of their retroviral load, or the number of units of the virus attacking their immune system.
Our understanding is that at present this monitoring can only be carried out in Port Moresby.
The reality?
Only yesterday we learned of an infected Engan woman who at present finds refuge in the shell of a half-built church.
She has gained limited access to two of the ARV drugs in the past few weeks; in most cases the ARV cocktail of medication involves three drugs.
The woman is seriously ill; her access even in a limited form to the ARV drugs may save her life.
But she is reportedly rejected by her family and kin and she is living in a province in the other end of the country.
As with most provinces there are no special HIV/AIDS wards at the provincial hospital with a limited number of trained nurses supported by a tiny hard-working public and private support system that has so far kept her alive.
Even if she survives, her future must be grim.
We are more than pleased at the obvious progress being made in fighting this disease in the Western Highlands.
But we caution against viewing this early success as the beginning of the end of HIV/AIDS in PNG.
It is indeed the beginning and a tragically delayed one at that.
No-one can calculate how many Papua New Guineans have died of this disease since it was first identified in our country nearly 20 years ago.
But at last some sense of urgency appears to have taken root and we can dare to hope that the future may prove better for HIV/AIDS victims.