PNG National AIDS Council Secretariat

30/11/2023

PREVENT HIV FOR A HEALTHY INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY- LET US ALL WORK TOGETHER TO END HIV AND AIDS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

12/01/2022

Happy 2022 and it is also the year for the NGE, a time when all rules and customs remain silent technically and a good reminder to all PNGeans to be wary of HIV. HIV is real and is here and is the real pandemic. The focus by GoPNG is on Covid 19 but citizens, be wary as it is one of the leading killers silently wiping the PNG population. 2 to 5 people are dying every day and with stigma, not all are getting tested to knowing the individual status and the unknown reality out there is scary. Please Prevention is better than cure and this post is this call to URGE SAFE S*X. Condom is by far the best preventive tool available to abstain from contracting HIV. Belated Happy New Year and let us be wary of HIV in the upcoming 2022 NGE knowing the volatility and votes luring rising s*xual behaviors especially as always in PNG.

13/12/2021

HIV is the original pandemic and is at large a pandemic still. Focus in terms of funding by GoPNG and Development Partners has deteriorated but this has apparently worsened HIV Epidemic. Stigma and Discrimination have exponentially increased HIV unrecorded cases. Please, a good reminder to all to be weary of it as it is real and is here, nonetheless.

03/11/2021

The silent Killer now was a pandemic and is a pandemic as Covid 19 never replaced it. Colleagues PNGeans, don't ignore it as the silent but dangerous killer as many unreported deaths are by HIV. The known statistics are alarming but the reality out there is worse and we must be cautious with Preventive Measures when engaging s*xually. Stigma and discrimination have drastically tampered many from knowing their status and the number of HIV Carriers can be more than what we have. It is a concern but to be safe, please employ the prevention tools to s*xually interact. NACS has boxes of Condoms for both genders and we can be contacted to supply them. the public is asked to enquire for any queries and NACS stands ready to respond and help.

24/10/2021

The first Pandemic HIV is lying low with lower reception by the Government but that doesn't mean its over, Deadly still and is around. Now the focus is on Covid 19 and as was with HIV as initially also but please be wary of it as it kills when you defy its prevention relieves like Condom Before S*x. The incidences of HIV transmission are well above normal making it alarming. Coupled with stigma and discrimination, many aren't voluntarily getting tested to know their status and the worry now is, what could be the guarantee one doesn't have it to have s*x. PLIS USIM HET na BIHANINIM "karamap tambolau na karamap antap" TO BE SAFE FROM BOTH VIRUSES

26/03/2021

PNG National AIDS Council Secretariat in Conjuction with Love Touch Condom & Quick Freights PNG.
Love Touch Condoms will soon be rolled in PNG.

25/03/2021

BWH FEBRUARY 2021 EDITION is OUT NOW!!!!
You can either:
1. Click on the "Send Email" button on our page and request for your copy, or;
2. Send an email to: [email protected] and request for your copy.
You can also subscribe to our newsletter by visiting the PNG NACS Website: www.nacs.org.pg
!!!

23/03/2021

22/03/2021

SUCCESSFUL STORIES TO PROMOTE HIV & AIDS PROGRAMS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

Total of 5 testimonies

5. Living A Positive Life Count Not on Wealth but Perseverance

Diana, aged 41, comes from East Sepik Province. She came to Port Moresby in her young ages and stayed with relatives. Later, she got married to her first husband and had two children. Her first child to the first husband was born negative. Diana only knew her HIV status through the Prevention from Parents To Child Transmission (PPTCT) test when she was pregnant with the second child. Upon delivery of her second child of the first husband, the child was also put to PPTCT test and his result turned out Positive”. Unforgettably, Diana recalled the date when she was initiated to ART. She got registered for ART in 2005. She said the date which she was told of her positive status is fresh in her mind. “It was like yesterday”, said Diana.

After having ongoing issues with the first husband, the husband decided to desert her and the two children. Poor Diana who was unemployed, was heavily burdened and began looking for support and ways to put food on the table and meet her end needs and those of her children. Hence, that paved the way to establishing affairs with her present (second) husband.

When asked about the reaction of her second husband knowing her to be HIV positive, Diana said her husband loves her so much that he did everything he could to look after Diana and her children. With her new husband, they also have two children. What a cumbersome dilemma this was to Diana thinking about her children and the likelihood that her second husband might desert them again? However, that seldom happened to her. She proposed for her husband to go for a HIV test and upon her husband’s concurrence, he went for a test. Her husband’s HIV test result later showed that he does not have the virus.

With her second husband, their first child was tested three times for HIV but he was negative and so did the second child. Again, the second husband being in fear of HIV transmission from her wife, made up his mind to break the marriage and leave poor Diana with her children.

Diana was left alone with her children. All children to her marriages were all negative except the second child of her first marriage. Diana was infected by her first husband who went around with women and contracted the virus.

Stigma and discrimination by family, friends and community on one’s HIV status is inevitable when the status is disclosed. When asked about her level of stigma and discrimination, Diana said no one knew her status. “It was only my mother and my first-born son. They knew about my status. They did not even blame me for contracting the disease but were very supportive in encouraging me to adhere to my Anti-Retroviral Therapy”.

In addition, Diana also mentioned that she was often times troubled by self-discrimination and blame for the type of life she was faced up with. ”Even though no one knew about my status, yet I felt demotivated to socialize with my community members”.

When asked about how she managed to battle self-discrimination, stigmatization and demotivation, “My children give me the motivation. Look they are negative! If HIV should be serious enough, my three children would have been lying in sick beds. I know God is watching, that is my courage and my strength. My mind is set and positive.” said Diana.

“My challenge was the accessibility of ART. I also need bus fare to go to the clinic which I have registered for medication. Also, I am faced up with dilemmas of having food on the table for me especially (being on ART) and for my children. It does not bother me that I slept in shelter made of scraps. My only fear is failing to take my medicine on time” said Diana.

Diana is well and active despite her challenges mentioned above. She said that recently, her uncle gave a piece of land to build their house and farm the piece of land for their economic gain. “With the government policy to boosting Small and Medium Enterprises, I saw as an opportunity to cultivate the land, applied for SME loans and run a small business to provide me bus fare to access my medication and to put food on the table and lastly pay the school fees of my children.

When asked about the level of her viral load, she said that her viral load is suppressed. That can be also proven through the status of her three children who were negative. It is scientifically proven that when viral load is suppressed to an undetectable level, chances of transmission from Mother-to Child remains low.

Diana is a strong Christian who believes in God the Almighty who is the giver of life. “I am blessed and looked after by the Almighty, I don’t have the money to look after myself and children yet, my chances to breathe every day tells me of how loving my Heavenly Father is” expressed Diana. For it is written that His rain and sun fall and shine above the righteousness and the sinners. Christian faith is a divine encouragement to keep strong spiritual healing and helps retain positive mindset for those who were troubled.

Diana extended her sincere thanks to the most supreme and the giver of life, our Heavenly Father for looking after her family and to the Government of Papua New Guinea for the availability of free ART Drugs. “PNG is unique that government is not selling the ART drug. ART is not free in other countries”, said Diana. Diana asked, “How can I adhere to medication if Government sells ART? I could have been buried already if ART drug is not for free”, she explained. “My big, big thanks to PNG government. I also want to thank National AIDS Council Secretariat for giving me this opportunity to come out and speak about myself and my experiences”, expressed Diana.

My message to the general public and especially to People Living With HIV is that despite your economic status whether affluent or poor, ART is given free and adherence to the ART regimen will restore your life to be healthy as any other negative person.

HIV IS NO LONGER A DEATH SENTENCE DISEASE. WITH ADHERENCE TO ART AND RIGHT SUPPORT, YOU ARE STRONGER THAN HIV.

22/03/2021

SUCCESSFUL STORIES TO PROMOTE HIV & AIDS PROGRAMS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

Total of 5 testimonies

4. Love and Care

Gloria Paul 32, from Chimbu is an HIV positive mother of four (4) who is currently living with her husband at 4 Mile, National Capital District.

In 2009, under the Prevention from Parent-To-Child-Transmission (PPTCT) HIV program initiated by the Government of Papua New Guinea through National Department of Health, Gloria and her husband were tested for HIV at the Antenatel Clinic (ANC) during her first pregnancy. It took only 15 minutes. When results came back, Gloria was HIV positive but the husband’s result was HIV negative. For confirmation the husband was tested three (3) times on three different occasions but the tests were the same.

Despite the test result Gloria explained, “my husband loves me for who I am and there is no violence or stigma and discrimination within my family. He loves me for who I am”.

The question is, being a HIV positive mother, how did Gloria give birth to four (4) HIV negative babies and still living with her HIV negative husband?

Apart from being a devoted mother to her family, Gloria made it her responsibility to adhere to the Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) by following the advice given to her from the nurses and VCT counsellors. The ART medication has made her strong thus suppressing the HIV virus in her body to an undetectable level. With the help of the hospital nurses, she was able to give birth to 4 HIV negative babies and living with her husband without transmitting the HIV virus to him.

This is what Gloria said; “my husband and I make sure I take my daily doses to help protect myself and the people I love especially my husband and my children. The motivation that I am happily active and being a normal person is because of my husband’s consistent love and support. He makes sure I am happy and he provides for me and my children.”

From what Gloria encountered for the past eleven (11) years and the support she has received from her family especially her husband, this has inspired courage and hope which enabled her to overcome barriers to stigma, discrimination, negative feelings, depression and access to HIV services.

She is now happy and continues to inspire other people living with HIV.

22/03/2021

SUCCESSFUL STORIES TO PROMOTE HIV & AIDS PROGRAMS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

Total of 5 testimonies

3. Mind Power

Florence, 47, a single mother of one, currently lives with her son and her family at 9 Mile.

In 2005 Florence was tested HIV positive during her first Well Baby Clinic day. Under the HIV program – Prevention from Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT), she successfully gave birth to a HIV negative baby. Several HIV tests were done for the baby but the tests were confirmed negative and the baby was discharge form the Well Baby Clinic accordingly. Florence was initiated on ART the same time she was tested.

Over (2) years, Florence struggled with her child from stigma and discrimination from within the family and the community, “I was self stigmatized and was neglected besides I was being stigmatized and discriminated by my family, to the extreme of watching them preparing for my death and burial. Living in a settlement where there is a mixture of people from all over PNG, the stigma and discrimination was worse and I was full of negative energy”, Florence said.
Stigma and discrimination became worse in 2007. That’s when Florence managed to convert this negative approach to something positive. “All the negative approach towards my life motivated me to change my mind and that’s when I begin to think that I had a child who is HIV negative and I have to exercise my will power to say no to dying and to live a normal live. It was my mind that drove me to defeat the stigma and discrimination that surrounded me”, stated Florence.

Based on the strong decision that she made, Florence started initiating the backyard gardening and planted corn and greens to sell. Besides this, she made bilums for the same purpose. With the money collected she managed to do her son’s open-heart fundraiser.
More and more time was spent on gardening and bilum making which made her to occupy herself from the negativities and for survival. Florence mentioned, “with that kind of understanding I believed I minimized the stigma and discrimination and I really broke the barrier. Now everyone in the community as well as my family regard me as a leader. I make decisions and contribute in cash or kind to the community whenever need arises and they respect me.”

Florence built her career while living with HIV. Because Florence was a fast learner, she was attached with NGOs as a Project Officer which led her to be a project abstract writer for several projects. where she did presentations in International HIV Conferences. In addition, she contributed nationally to advocate on stigma and discrimination.

“It’s me that I can change myself apart from ART. Having the will power in me has driven me to make some positive changes to become who I am today. I can do anything that a normal person can do and nothing can stop me from doing that,” Florence said.
Florence gave the following encouragement to people living with HIV who are stigmatized and discriminated, “we all have the will power to overcome the negative approaches in our lives to become someone in the future”.

Furthermore, Florence encouraged the community to go for early HIV counseling & testing and to know their status to minimize stigma and discrimination.

She also acknowledged the government for the continuous support to HIV programs and also for the supply of ART.

20/03/2021

SUCCESSFUL STORIES TO PROMOTE HIV & AIDS PROGRAMS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

Total of 5 testimonies

2. HIV-Positive Grade 9 student

Learning that you are HIV-positive can be one of the most difficult experiences you go through in life. You may feel scared, sad or even angry – this is good, and a completely natural part of coping with something that can be life changing.

But remember, HIV doesn’t have to stop you living a long, happy and fulfilling life. With the right treatment and support, it is possible to live as long as the average person.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be living with HIV. Ultimately, everyone’s lives are different – how you cope with your diagnosis and how you move forward will be unique.

Roslyn who turned 17 years old last year (2020), hails from Oro and Gulf Provinces. She is currently living with her care giver (not her biological parents) at Hohola One, in Port Moresby, National Capital District (NCD) of Papua New Guinea. She is now doing her Grade Nine in one of the Secondary Schools in NCD with a pretty and healthy-looking appearance.

At the age of five, Roslyn was admitted for TB treatment. Whilst she was on her sick bed, Roslyn was told by her clinician that her HIV test result turned out positive. Being a small girl at that age, she was unable to understand the disease and its likely symptoms. She thought she was only down with TB and not HIV.

Roslyn was registered at 9 Mile Well Baby Clinic and when she turned 15, she was transferred to Heduru Adult Clinic. Roslyn’s care giver later decided to re-transfer her to Anglicare PNG for Roslyn’s convenience.

Unlike many other adolescent girls who have encountered blame for their infections by their families, Roslyn said her care giver is a strong mother who persevered to look after her without labelling Roselyn with disparaging words such as useless, rubbish, etcetera. “My care giver knows it is not my fault that I am positive. It is only me who tried to blame myself” Said Roslyn. “I am a grown-up teenager and began putting on my adult thinking cap not to play the blame game but to find a way out so I enjoy my life as everyone else,” added Roslyn.

It is likely that the ongoing impacts and rhetoric of blame from and about oneself will have negative ongoing emotional impacts as well as diverse impacts on treatment adherence and treatment outcomes in fairly longer term.

So, the message here is for the People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) and the care givers to move away from blame games and instead encourage PLWHIV’s to adhere to their treatment so we see the outcome of their treatment as the change we envisaged to see.

The familial support comes in a number of different, but important ways including food, financial support as well as encouragement.

When Roselyn was asked about the public knowing her status, she said no one knew about her status but only her care giver. She was less faced with outside stigma and discrimination but the only thing which she is fighting to overcome is the self-stigma and discrimination. She said that the self-stigmatization and discrimination is when you develop negative thoughts about yourself. “I often heard my inner voice talking to me to remain positive when these negative thoughts come into my mind,” Roslyn explained. “I often cried because I thought there was no one by my side worried about my socialization and appearance in front of my colleagues, friends and community at large. I think and think and think but when I see the look on her (care giver’s) face, I regain my strength and happiness, I feel the hope”, stated Roslyn.

“When I was growing up and started to learn about my status and HIV as a disease, I reset my mind and told myself to remain positive, be faithful on ART and accept my status. I am not the only one in the World or PNG with the virus so I will quarrel and worry all day. NO! It is not my fault that I contracted the virus, yet I do not have the tendency to blame my mother who transmitted it to me”. Roslyn sympathetically explained. “ART is now available and it is a green-shoot of hope for such People Living With HIV/AIDS to live a quality life moving forward. Roslyn reiterated.

When asked about whether she was once declared a lost-to-follow-up on ART, Roslyn replied yes. “When I am busy with school, I have inconsistent schedule with my ART hence, my viral load has gone up and on one moment I was very sick and lost my weight. My care giver realized that and brought me back to ART.

When she was put back on ART, she regained her weight and recovered from the ill-feelings that she had encountered while not on ART. “I realized how effective ART impacted on my health despite the co-morbidity I lived with”, Roslyn said.

It should be well understood that failure to adhere does not mean a person stops treatment forever or even for a long time. It is only about missing few doses. “Even though I was under other pressures at home and at school but my biggest fear was failing my new treatment”, said Roslyn.

Adherence to treatment resulted in restored health of being normal again. Having commenced life treatment again had adverse effects and among many effects was the restoring of lives especially in body and mind.

“The new feeling that I have after being put back to treatment is normal. I feel the same as any negative person. I concentrated in my studies and participated in teamwork and I have nothing to worry about. I am a normal person. I love my classmates, teachers, friends, families and my mother (care giver),” said Roselyn.

Being a teenager, a critical question for Roselyn as a seventeen-year-old girl was her relationship and marriage life. She affirmed and remained positive that she has a brighter future because of what she is doing at present (Taking ART). “The future is only the reflection of today’s decision. You act now or never”, she said.

Many girls and young women reflected on intimate matters relating to s*x, marriage and reproductive desires. As young people in their reproductive years, the concern of marriage is one critical decision to be made. While some desired these relationships, others feared them. It is obvious that for those girls and young women who are recently initiated to ART, they were afraid to make marriage decisions compared to those who have been on treatment for longer. Roslyn is no exception. She is looking forward to have a happy life in the future. Where it matters, she is fit and well to look after her own children the same as negative mothers.

So as explained above on the recent taking of ART and early taking of ART, the possible inference is that the longer you being on ART or faithfulness to ART strengthened your s*x and marriage decisions.

Papua New Guinea is a Christian Country; therefore, Religion has long been described as important in HIV narratives, particularly those living with HIV/AIDS. Prayer, faith and God provides space for spiritual and mental comfort, acceptance, support to remain adherent and guidance for behavioral change.

Prayer also provided a means for families to actively support and seek healing and wellbeing for their daughters and sisters with HIV.

Roslyn stated that, God provides for her daily needs. “He is a giver, a provider and always protect me. It is unanimously a practice when we are faced up with problems and dilemma’s, we turn to our heavenly father to show us the way out of our problems”.

Roslyn extends her thanks firstly to the Heavenly Father for the life He has given her, the Government of Papua New Guinea for the free ART medicine to all People Living with HIV around the country, National AIDS Council Secretariat for giving her the opportunity to share her experiences and lastly to her care giver, for the day-to-day support.

HIV doesn’t have to stop you living a long, happy and fulfilling life. With the right treatment and support, it is possible to live as long as the average person!