Kanawi: Women infected with HIV a great concern

WOMEN infected by HIV/AIDS should be a great concern for the national government and all stakeholders because they are pillars of society, National AIDS Council Secretariat director Wep Kanawi says.
He highlighted this last Friday at the East New Britain provincial AIDS council luncheon at Ralum Club, in Kokopo.
Kanawi said statistics provided by stakeholders for the past 12 months showed that 2,000 people were tested for HIV/AIDS and that 37 people tested positive.
The age group with most cases was between 15 and 40 and that over the past 12 months, 5,000 people tested and found to have sexually transmitted infections.
 “Your (ENB) statistics have worried me, more females are infected and affected and they are pillars of the community, they are your landlords.
“They are people who look after your community and make things happen in society,” Kanawi said.
“When they get infected, that should be a concern to everybody, all stakeholders, including the government.”
Many of the cases were detected from antenatal mothers and the onus was now on stakeholders to encourage partner management among married couples as male cases were increasing.
Kanawi commended the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS in the province, saying the province’s actions and strategies indicated it cared about fighting the epidemic.
He said people must now accept that the source of virus was no longer from foreigners but “from our very own people and behaviour patterns need to be changed”.
Kanawi reminded and cautioned stakeholders of two upcoming events – the PNG Games and national election where people from all walks of life would be interacting with each other and temptations would arise.
“Each individual will have to step up their guard and not take that risky step further and invite HIV/AIDS onto their doorsteps,” he said.