Save the Children PNG leading HIV/AIDS fight

SAVE the Children PNG (SciPNG) is being hailed as a leader in positive involvement of people living with HIV and AIDS.
An audit by AusAID showed that SciPNG’s Poro sapot programme (PSP) has been implementing the greater involvement of people living with AIDS (GIPA) principle.
The GIPA principle, endorsed by the UN in 2001, is a new approach that calls for a more meaningful involvement of HIV positive people.
“While providing care and support to their volunteers, PSP staff had gone out of their way to meaningfully involve HIV positive people in their activities,” Maura Elaipe, GIPA adviser with AusAID’s PNG-Australia HIV/AIDS programme (formerly known as Sanap wantaim), said.
“However, they have not been documenting these activities because they are specifically focused on education and prevention.”
The audit was carried out in all four PSP site- Lae, Madang, Goroka, and Port Moresby last April.
Steven Yoifa, PSP’s senior programme officer in Lae, said they tried to accommodate HIV positive individuals in their activities because “the stigma towards them doubles” due to either the nature of their work or their sexuality.