‘While the region has done considerably well in getting out the message about HIV/AIDS with high profile media campaigns and outreach programmes, some vital issues relating to its spread have tended to remain on the sidelines.'


In the past decade, the number of people affected by HIV/AIDS has been growing throughout the islands with some countries registering growth rates rapid enough to cause fears of reaching epidemic proportions.
Estimates say that there are more than 75,000 people living with the syndrome in the Oceania region and figures indicate that things are getting worse, particularly in some hotspots.

Papua New Guinea accounts for 90 percent of the sufferers in the islands region and Fiji is reporting increasing number of new cases every year. Smaller islands run the risk of a quicker growth rate because of their insularity among other reasons.

While the region has done considerably well in getting out the message about HIV/ AIDS among people with high profile media campaigns and outreach programmes, some vital issues relating to its spread have tended to remain on the sidelines. Little has been done in the area of legal reform especially in regards to the rights of people living with the syndrome and the wider social implications as their number continues to grow.

Three events last month brought some much needed traction in these hitherto neglected aspects of the battle against HIV/AIDS in the Pacific region.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) got together attorney-generals, health ministers and senior government officials from all over the Pacific islands region in Auckland to find ways of ensuring their countries’ laws relating to HIV adequately respect and protect the rights of people living with HIV.

Across the world, discrimination against HIV positive people has been keeping pace with its growth, according to human rights organisations. Governments have been accused of not adequately addressing the issue of social stigma—the biggest factor in the way of HIV positive people try to lead normal lives while combating their condition.

The deliberations in Auckland led to a declaration signed by all the 16 participating countries that will hopefully set the ball rolling for legislative changes addressing such wide ranging issues as discrimination, ethics, access to treatment, privacy and confidentiality relating to people living with HIV.

Current legislation in the islands, like in many other parts of the world, offers little support to HIV sufferers against these issues. Many of the delegates being attorney-generals themselves, it is hoped their participation will speed up the process of legislative reform in their respective countries.

Elsewhere, in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, a conference with the theme ‘Pacific in action: Putting the pieces together,’ called on participants to strengthen their response to HIV by sharing different perspectives and strategies on prevention, counselling, testing, care and treatment.

The conference brought together HIV/AIDS experts and workers from most islands from the region as well as the United States—an interaction that is expected to result in a greater flow of know-how and information in dealing with its spread and control. It is hoped the meet will help step up collaboration between donors and partners, as well as bridge the north-south divide that prevails in the Pacific HIV arena. 

The third encouraging development was the launch of the PNG Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS in Port Moresby recently. A not for profit organisation, the outfit is made up of members from several sectors of industry and has been established with the support of the Asia Pacific Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS—an initiative launched by former United States President Bill Clinton when he visited PNG last year.

Faced with grim, worst case scenario predictions of a drop in gross domestic product (GDP) in the near future due to a rapidly depleting workforce no thanks to the runaway rise in people living with HIV in the most productive age group in society, such an initiative was long overdue in PNG.

Supported by an impressive list of Australian corporations, business leaders and celebrities, such an initiative could do wonders not just in PNG but also throughout the region, across which it will hopefully be rolled out in the coming years.

While all these initiatives are welcome and must be encouraged at every level, there is a need for them to work in concert with each other to ensure their activities strengthen one another in reaching the common goal—to slow down and ultimately stop the spread of HIV—while dealing with the mounting social and legal issues of people living with it.

But in all these strategies, one very important missing component continues to stand out more and more starkly with each passing year: the involvement of religious organisations and bodies. Religion forms an important part in the lives of Pacific islanders and little, if at all anything, is being done at the formal level to tie in this all-important component into the overall strategy.

Unfortunately, the role of religious institutions in combating HIV in the Pacific region continues to go unacknowledged at a time when it needs to be the very cornerstone of any strategy that would be meaningful particularly at the social level.

The use of condoms still does not have universal sanction from all religious groups and the general approach to HIV from this quarter discourages sufferers to come forth, seek advice and treatment fearing stigma, scorn and guilt. Plainly, it is this sector more than any other that must take the leadership role in spreading awareness of HIV and resultant diseases.

Last month’s initiatives undoubtedly helped the war against HIV progress by several encouraging steps. Yet it is unfortunate that none of them seriously took into account the role of religious organisations that continue to have the biggest influence on the lives of Pacific people.

Paying lip service to the role of religion—particularly the church—by organisations working in the HIV arena is simply not enough. They need to get together to involve the region’s most influential body as an important part of their strategy. For in the uphill battle against HIV, more is less.