PNG declares national HIV crisis
Andy Park: Papua New Guinea has declared a national HIV crisis with the number of new cases increasing by almost 50% in the last decade. PNG correspondent Marion Faa has the story.
Marian Faa: Living as a transgender woman in Papua New Guinea, discrimination is part of Nancy's everyday life.
Nancy: Papua New Guinea, like PNG, they still have this thing that, I mean if you're a man, you're a man and they don't really, like it's a male or a female, it's just one gender.
Marian Faa: But when she was diagnosed with HIV 10 years ago, the stigma doubled.
Nancy: I felt hopeless. I just felt like that was the end of my life, yeah, and it really affected me mentally.
Marian Faa: Nancy is now healthier than ever thanks to the antiretroviral medication she takes regularly. That's not the case for many. Of the 120,000 people estimated to have HIV in PNG, less than half are accessing medication. And there's concern about a dramatic increase in new infections. Ken Wai is the National Health Secretary in PNG.
Ken Wai: The biggest worry is we don't want to run the risk of increasing these numbers.
Marian Faa: In the past decade, the number of new cases has nearly doubled from around 6,000 per year in 2015 to 11,000 last year. If the trend continues, Mr Wai says the whole country will suffer.
Ken Wai: Then we are going to buy HIV medicine only and then we will run out of money to buy TB drugs and malaria drugs and typhoid drugs and diarrhoea drugs and every others.
Marian Faa: He says the PNG government is doing its bit.
Ken Wai: Government does not fail in providing money to buy HIV medicines. For the last five years, seven years, we've never run out of HIV medicines and we've never run out of HIV testing reagents.
Marian Faa: But UNAIDS, the United Nations HIV prevention arm, says the health department could be doing more. Manoela Manova is the UNAIDS country director in PNG.
Manoela Manova: The need for controlling the epidemic is huge, it's enormous and it is estimated to cost 280 million per year. It requires resources and our call is for the government at least to match and to allocate double the amount that is currently allocated.
Marian Faa: In PNG, authorities say it'll take a concerted effort from individuals, donors and the government to get things under control. They're urging individuals to practice safe sex, use condoms and get regular health checks.
Andy Park: Marion Faa there.
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Andy Park: Papua New Guinea has declared a national HIV crisis with the number of new cases increasing by almost 50% in the last decade. PNG correspondent Marion Faa has the story. Marian Faa: Living as a transgender woman in Papua New Guinea, discrimination is part of Nancy's everyday life. Nancy: Papua New Guinea, like PNG, they still have this thing that, I mean if you're a man, you're a man and they don't really, like it's a male or a female, it's just one gender. Marian Faa: But when she was diagnosed with HIV 10 years ago, the stigma doubled. Nancy: I felt hopeless. I just felt like that was the end of my life, yeah, and it really affected me mentally. Marian Faa: Nancy is now healthier than ever thanks to the antiretroviral medication she takes regularly. That's not the case for many. Of the 120,000 people estimated to have HIV in PNG, less than half are accessing medication. And there's concern about a dramatic increase in new infections. Ken Wai is the National Health Secretary in PNG. Ken Wai: The biggest worry is we don't want to run the risk of increasing these numbers. Marian Faa: In the past decade, the number of new cases has nearly doubled from around 6,000 per year in 2015 to 11,000 last year. If the trend continues, Mr Wai says the whole country will suffer. Ken Wai: Then we are going to buy HIV medicine only and then we will run out of money to buy TB drugs and malaria drugs and typhoid drugs and diarrhoea drugs and every others. Marian Faa: He says the PNG government is doing its bit. Ken Wai: Government does not fail in providing money to buy HIV medicines. For the last five years, seven years, we've never run out of HIV medicines and we've never run out of HIV testing reagents. Marian Faa: But UNAIDS, the United Nations HIV prevention arm, says the health department could be doing more. Manoela Manova is the UNAIDS country director in PNG. Manoela Manova: The need for controlling the epidemic is huge, it's enormous and it is estimated to cost 280 million per year. It requires resources and our call is for the government at least to match and to allocate double the amount that is currently allocated. Marian Faa: In PNG, authorities say it'll take a concerted effort from individuals, donors and the government to get things under control. They're urging individuals to practice safe sex, use condoms and get regular health checks. Andy Park: Marion Faa there.
