Mission & Justice

Linda Sataro; 22/5/08

Papua New Guinea has the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in the Asia Pacific region, acting director of National AIDS Council Secretariat Romanus Pakure has said. He said PNG also has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific region. The country used to be the fourth in the Asia Pacific after Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. PNG’s generalised HIV/AIDS epidemic prevalence rate is 1%. Mr Pakure said this to participants of the Pacific Countries Ports Association (PCPA), who came from different Pacific island Sates, including Australia and New Zealand to attend the PCPA annual conference held in Port Moresby. He said in the Pacific region there are 1.3 million reported cases of people infected with the HIV virus.

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19/5/08

A Five-year research project by the Institute of Medical Research (MIRA) will play a major role in understanding sexually transmitted infections and HIV in Papua New Guinea. The Australian Government has awarded the K8 million research grant to the IMR to strengthen the PNG-Australia Sexual Health Improvement Program (PASHIP). “This grant builds on previous and existing Australian Government support for the IMR which is regarded as the country’s premier medical research institution,” head of AusAID in PNG Margaret Thomas, who accompanied Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the Goroka-based institute in March, said. “As the research arm of the national Department of Health the institute is also in a unique position to provide a link for evidence-based policy making and develop and evaluate interventions.”

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