In Midst of Epidemic HIV Rates, Papua New Guinea Launches Condom Week

Papua New Guinea is a mountain-laced jungle located in the Southern Pacific where AIDS infections are growing at a rapid rate and quickly reaching epidemic proportions much like those seen in South Africa. Not unlike South Africa, disgrace at being infected and a health system that is greatly suffering are hindering efforts in Papua to thwart HIV/AIDS and stop it in its tracks. In Papua, education about HIV is not widespread and many people still believe that sorcery is to blame for the growing number of cases each year. In hospitals where AIDS patients are being treated, the nursing staff is so low that relatives of AIDS patients often stay with them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week just to ensure that their minimum needs are being taken care of. In some remote areas, it is not uncommon for villagers infected with AIDS to be drowned in local rivers or simply thrown into graves to die slow, heart-wrenching deaths.

Due to Papua’s dire situation, Papua Condom Week took place in various regions throughout the territory in February 2008 (February 2 through 16). Sponsored by the AIDS Prevention Commission the week was intended to help combat the growing HIV infection rate. The focus of this week was to educate the public about HIV/AIDS facts and to open the communication channels throughout the population so that AIDS and the havoc it causes gets more exposure and stops being a source of shame. This campaign’s main message centered on practicing safe sex to help prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Dewi Wulandari, a public relations officer in the AIDS Prevention Commission for Papua speaks about the Condom Week, “The program is completed with film presentations and public discussion at Sentani Airport, Phraa market and Sentani terminal as well as on PT. Pelni ship which sails to strategic areas.” In fact, the AIDS Prevention Commission for Papua is joining forces with the HIV educating team from the Non-Government Organization for AIDS Prevention and Care to schedule a trip for this PT. Pelni ship as it makes its return trip from to Manokwari from Jayapura in order to perform educational training on condoms for all of the ship’s passengers and all of its staff.

A large portion of Papua’s population has been affected by HIV. In fact, in the year 2007, the infection rate increased greatly. According to studies performed by the Papua Health Institute, there were close to 1,500 cases of AIDS and just under 2,000 cases of new HIV infections. Approximately 9 percent of these reported cases were fatal. The most worrisome aspect of these reports is that the majority of these new infections have affected adults between the ages of 15 and 39, those of child-bearing age. Health officials have stated that there are several reasons behind this phenomenon: an environment that does not support the safe sex campaigns, a large portion of the population that practices unsafe sex and an uneducated population. Many hope that this Condom Week will remedy these unsafe practices and give the population more knowledge about how the efficient and consistent use of condoms will help stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV.