More research needed on HIV

By AGNES FIFI UKI
MORE research needs to be carried out to address the issues affecting organisations and communities aligned with the National AIDS Council in order to plan and design programmes to target specific groups or issues, Thomas Lisenia says,
Lisenia, the manager for the National HIV/AIDS Training Unit and facilitator of a week-long workshop with the National AIDS Council secretariat, delivered this message to participants who attended the workshop at the AIDS Council’s headquarters in Port Moresby on Wednesday.
The workshop was specifically looking at the five main umbrella organisations that work in partnership with the National AIDS Council’s strategic plan 2011-2015 to fight the epidemic in the country.
With the council’s strategic plan in going rural in the next five years to reach the bulk of the population with awareness campaigns to reduce the prevalence rate, the council and the National Department of Health had to work closely with the five umbrella organisations to implement the plan, he said.
 Lisenia said the five umbrella organisations were stakeholders that over the past 12 years received their funding from the council to carry out their programmes and projects.
They have their small stakeholders who implemented their programmes nationwide.
The five umbrella organisations are:
lI Gat Hope for People Living with HIV;
lPACSO for community-based organisations (CBOs);
lPNG Churches Alliance for faith-based organisations (FBOs);
lBAHA or Business Coalition Against HIV and AIDS (Business and Commerce); and,
lYAHA or Youth Alliance on HIV and AIDS for youth groups.
“During the initial planning stage these organisations realised that they all have different plans in terms of working towards the response,” Lisenia said.
“Proper planning must be done and aligned with the National HIV Strategy (NHS) 2011-2015.”
He said a lesson learnt for most stakeholders was that by sharing their experiences, they learnt from each
other. “Through evaluation they learn to manage the core responsibility of NHS and avoid duplicating programmes, thus eliminating foul play, wastage and make accountability and reporting easier.”