Young girls at risk of getting HIV

ACCORDING to National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) acting director Tony Lupiwa, young girls between the ages of 15 and 24 in Papua New Guinea are at most risk of testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
He said one of the ways to protect young women was to ensure they were well informed at a young age about the disease.
Lupiwa said the secretariat was working with the Education Department to have a specific curriculum educating high school students (from grade 9-12) about HIV which led to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and sexual health with a focus on female students.
“Last year, we started negotiating with the Education Department and we are trying to revise the curriculum to make sure that there is enough focus on children at the school level before they graduate,” he said.
Lupiwa said the NACS would be pushing for a stronger school curriculum to ensure girls knew how to protect themselves from unsafe sexual practices, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STIs).
He said educating young people about STIs would also see them spread the information to their peers which was also effective.
“The programme is in place to educate young Papua New Guineans on HIV/AIDS but not just themselves, their families as well as their peers.”
Secretariat’s advocacy and social mobilisation manager Valentine Tangoh said access to condoms and other HIV prevention services was difficult for many Papua New Guineans, especially women and girls, in rural and remote areas.
He said these vulnerable members of the society needed to have access to services, information and condoms (male and female) to make better decisions about their health and protect themselves from STIs such as the HIV.
Tangoh said poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to services and information all contributed to putting young girls and many people at risk.