Papua New Guinea estimates national HIV prevalence at 0.9% in 2009

PORT MORESBY: The PNG Department of Health (NDOH) and National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) have estimated that national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 0.92% with an upward trend.

The latest estimate is based on an analysis conducted in 2009 using most recent data available across the country.

The new estimates of HIV prevalence were carried out by a panel of national and international experts using data on HIV tests among pregnant women at Antenatal Clinics (ANCs) in Highlands, Southern, Momase, and New Guinea Islands regions.

The results were collated and finalised during a joint NDOH-NACS workshop in June 2010.

PNG has been using higher estimates of prevalence since 2007 based on data from a relatively small number of rural and urban sites.

Since then there has been a substantial increase in number of health facilities conducting HIV tests among antenatal mothers and this information has provided enough data to get a better picture of the epidemic in 2009 with a revised 0.92 % prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15-49 years.

 The findings also indicate that there might possibly be an initiation of levelling-off in the spread of epidemic which, however, requires further careful investigations.

National AIDS Council chairman Sir Peter Barter, while expressing his views on the 2009 HIV analysis, said: “The latest estimates have provided us an opportunity to understand the dynamics of HIV spread in the country and see how we are responding to the disease.

“We should not become complacent or relaxed as a result of latest prevalence estimates.

“To me the latest figure of 0.9% is just a step forward towards having a better and realistic picture of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea as a result of ten-fold improved surveillance.

“The problem of HIV/AIDS is enormous in our country and we need to invest equally enormous resources to fight it out.

“I do not doubt the spread of HIV in high risk groups remains alarmingly high.”

The new estimate has shown substantial increase in the number of ANC sites providing testing services throughout the country from 17 in 2005 to 178 in 2009 resulting in more information being available to draw from.

The latest estimates imply that there have been improvements in the disease surveillance and access to better HIV-related services; however, all other HIV indicators including number of deaths, number of orphans, new HIV cases, stigma, and discrimination do not provide encouraging signs.

The HIV occurrence has been found to be the highest in Highlands and Southern Region (1.02% and 1.17%, respectively) with lower but increasing estimates in Momase and New Guinea Islands (0.63% and 0.61%, respectively).

The total estimated number of people living with HIV in 2009 is 34,100.

Of these, 31,000 were estimated to be adults aged 15+ and 3,100 were estimated to be children.

Overall, about 3,200 people were estimated to be infected in 2009, while more than 1,300 people were estimated to have died from AIDS in the same year.

This analysis also noted a substantial increase in the number of people who are benefiting from counselling and treatment services.

There has also been an increase in the number of newborns able to benefit from the prevention programmes for parent to child HIV transmission.

The new HIV estimates, while presenting the latest overview of the prevalence, have some limitations also to the accuracy of data.

Although much more data is available, the quality of this data is still variable.

There were only a small number of sites that had consistent data.

The team of experts who conducted these estimates has recommended to (a) strengthen surveillance activities, (b) invest in sustainable prevention and treatment efforts, (c) use behavioural and STI surveillance data for interpretation of prevalence trends, and (d) conduct a national household HIV prevalence survey.

Sir Peter said that regardless of what appeared to be a reduced prevalence rate, the first priority must be given to prevention and the strategy was clearly outlined in the National Prevention Strategy and would be evident in the 2011-2016 National HIV Strategy due to be released in the very near future.

Papua New Guinea estimates national HIV prevalence at 0.9% in 2009

PORT MORESBY: The PNG Department of Health (NDOH) and National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) have estimated that national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 0.92% with an upward trend.

The latest estimate is based on an analysis conducted in 2009 using most recent data available across the country.

The new estimates of HIV prevalence were carried out by a panel of national and international experts using data on HIV tests among pregnant women at Antenatal Clinics (ANCs) in Highlands, Southern, Momase, and New Guinea Islands regions.

The results were collated and finalised during a joint NDOH-NACS workshop in June 2010.

PNG has been using higher estimates of prevalence since 2007 based on data from a relatively small number of rural and urban sites.

Since then there has been a substantial increase in number of health facilities conducting HIV tests among antenatal mothers and this information has provided enough data to get a better picture of the epidemic in 2009 with a revised 0.92 % prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15-49 years.

 The findings also indicate that there might possibly be an initiation of levelling-off in the spread of epidemic which, however, requires further careful investigations.

National AIDS Council chairman Sir Peter Barter, while expressing his views on the 2009 HIV analysis, said: “The latest estimates have provided us an opportunity to understand the dynamics of HIV spread in the country and see how we are responding to the disease.

“We should not become complacent or relaxed as a result of latest prevalence estimates.

“To me the latest figure of 0.9% is just a step forward towards having a better and realistic picture of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea as a result of ten-fold improved surveillance.

“The problem of HIV/AIDS is enormous in our country and we need to invest equally enormous resources to fight it out.

“I do not doubt the spread of HIV in high risk groups remains alarmingly high.”

The new estimate has shown substantial increase in the number of ANC sites providing testing services throughout the country from 17 in 2005 to 178 in 2009 resulting in more information being available to draw from.

The latest estimates imply that there have been improvements in the disease surveillance and access to better HIV-related services; however, all other HIV indicators including number of deaths, number of orphans, new HIV cases, stigma, and discrimination do not provide encouraging signs.

The HIV occurrence has been found to be the highest in Highlands and Southern Region (1.02% and 1.17%, respectively) with lower but increasing estimates in Momase and New Guinea Islands (0.63% and 0.61%, respectively).

The total estimated number of people living with HIV in 2009 is 34,100.

Of these, 31,000 were estimated to be adults aged 15+ and 3,100 were estimated to be children.

Overall, about 3,200 people were estimated to be infected in 2009, while more than 1,300 people were estimated to have died from AIDS in the same year.

This analysis also noted a substantial increase in the number of people who are benefiting from counselling and treatment services.

There has also been an increase in the number of newborns able to benefit from the prevention programmes for parent to child HIV transmission.

The new HIV estimates, while presenting the latest overview of the prevalence, have some limitations also to the accuracy of data.

Although much more data is available, the quality of this data is still variable.

There were only a small number of sites that had consistent data.

The team of experts who conducted these estimates has recommended to (a) strengthen surveillance activities, (b) invest in sustainable prevention and treatment efforts, (c) use behavioural and STI surveillance data for interpretation of prevalence trends, and (d) conduct a national household HIV prevalence survey.

Sir Peter said that regardless of what appeared to be a reduced prevalence rate, the first priority must be given to prevention and the strategy was clearly outlined in the National Prevention Strategy and would be evident in the 2011-2016 National HIV Strategy due to be released in the very near future.

More protests at LNG project site

Caption: Local employees at the Kobalu camp outside the Hides gasfield throwing their helmets on the ground and ready to walk off their jobs in protest over poor working conditions and welfare yesterday. They also protested to support demands to the state and ExxonMobil by local landowners and landowner leader Andrew Pulupe (centre with petition paper).-Nationalpic by ANDREW ALPHONSE

 By ANDREW ALPHONSE

CONSTRUCTION work at the Kobalu supply and forward base for the multi-billion-kina PNG LNG project in Tari, Southern Highlands, was yesterday forced to stop by angry landowners as discontent grew at the project site, The National reports.

More than 100 local employees, attached with international contractor Red Seas Housing Services Ltd, also supported the landowners and walked off their jobs.

They complained of poor working condition and unfair treatment.

Kobalu landowner leader Andrew Pulupe forced the gates of the forward base shut at 3.30pm yesterday and ordered expatriate employees of Red Seas to vacate the premises, allowing only the guards to remain behind to look after the property.

Pulupe, who is chairman of Kobalu Joint Venture (JV) Ltd and Hewai Investments Ltd, the two landowners companies from Kobalu, said they supported moves by Hides landowners to force a stop-work until the government and LNG project developer, ExxonMobil, address some of their demands.

Pulupe said Kobalu landowners also wanted to benefit from the government’s business development grants, or seed capital, which other landowners would be getting.

He said they also wanted the state to honour its ministerial commitments made during the umbrella benefits sharing and licensed-based benefits sharing agreements for the LNG project last year.

They also demanded that ExxonMobil restructure the umbrella landowner company, Hides Gas Development Corporation (HGDC), and include landowner companies from each PDL and facility areas as shareholders.

Pulupe had supplied local unskilled labour to Red Seas to construct the forward base which would accommodate more than 200 employees at the site.

The base would also store materials and equipment for the construction of the LNG pipeline, and act as an aviation centre for helicopters.

An expatriate site manager refused to accept a copy of the petition containing the landowner demands when Pulupe attempted to deliver it to him in his makeshift office inside a shipping container yesterday afternoon.

The expatriate told Pulupe and The National to "f***" off and leave his premises and talk to ExxonMobil.

This infuriated Pulupe, who called the local employees together outside for a briefing and asked them to walk off their jobs. In that meeting, the employees complained to Pulupe about their poor working conditions.

They said Red Seas and HGDC had failed to provide proper uniforms and safety gears.

They said they were also told to live out of camp and come to work, and were not provided proper meals daily.

A Red Sea expatriate, when asked to comment on the complaints raised by the local workers, referred The National to HGDC and ExxonMobil.

Apart from Kobalu, work had also stopped at Hides 1 (PDL 1) and Hides 4 (PDL 7) due to landowner protests. Work had stopped since Aug 7.

Polye: I am ready to be Prime Minister

THE National Alliance party’s highlands bloc is rallying behind Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye for the party’s leadership when Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare steps down, The National reports.

In a show of solidarity, members of the Highlands bloc travelled with Polye to Laiagam last Friday to address a huge crowd in the rural township.

Those who travelled included Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga, Tambul-Nebilyer MP and Civil Aviation Minister Benjamin Poponawa, Mul-Baiyer MP and Internal Security Minister Sani Rambi, Wapenamanda MP Miki Kaeok and Lagaip-Porgera MP Philip Kikala.

Polye and his team travelled to Laiagam at the invitation of Kikala to officially close the week-long West Enga tumbuna cultural show.

Polye, who is the highlands deputy NA leader, told the huge crowd that had packed the Laiagam oval that he was ready to take over the party’s leadership when Sir Michael steps down.

Speaking in Engan dialect for maximum impact, Polye explained that the latest political events that saw the sacking of former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu was not an attempt to change the government, but an internal leadership issue.

He said the opposition seized the opportunity in creating political instability in pushing for a vote of no-confidence.

Polye said the NA leadership was not restricted to a particular district, province or region, and he would go for it.

 

 

Ministerial committee on Ramu fails to meet

By SINCLAIRE SOLOMON

 

A HIGH-powered ministerial committee, set up four years ago to expedite the K3.2 billion Ramu nickel project in the Bismarck Range of Madang, has never met, The National reports.

The project, Papua New Guinea’s first nickel and cobalt mine, is already 12 months behind schedule and costing developer Ramu NiCo (MCC) more than K7 million a day.

The committee was set up by a special meeting of the national executive council on April 13, 2006, after ministers were given a background brief of the mining at Kurumbukari in Usino-Bundi electorate and refinery operations at Basamuk Bay in Rai Coast electorate.

Its job was to “oversee and expedite the finalisation and implementation of the Ramu nickel-cobalt project” and be led by the mining minister as chairman. The minister at the time was Michael Ogio.

Other ministers in the committee were from works, national planning and monitoring, labour and industrial relations, foreign affairs and immigration, environment and conservation, lands and physical planning and health.

The fact that its existence was not widely known was evident in labour and industrial relations’ moves last year to remove some Chinese workers from Ramu NiCo for failing to fulfil PNG work permit requirements.

Unbeknownst to the department, the special NEC meeting had also directed the foreign affairs and immigration minister to use his powers under relevant legislation “to give appropriate visas to foreign nationals with relevant qualifications and experience required in the construction and development phase of the project”.

The man responsible for all mining and exploration activities in Madang, John Bivi, last week confirmed the formation of the ministerial committee exclusively for the Ramu nickel project but had not received any correspondence and deliberations to date.

“As far as I know, it has never sat,” Bivi, who heads a one-man provincial mines office, said. “It shows clearly the government’s lack of total commitment to the project which the provincial government fully backs.

“It is another case of too much talk, too much promises and no action to back them up,” he said.

Similarly, a spokesman for Ramu NiCo said at the weekend they were not aware that such a ministerial committee existed.

Ramu NiCo is already locked in a court battle with a group of landowners from the Basamuk Bay area who opposed the company’s deep sea tailings placement system.

The latter has been granted an interim injunction stopping work on the tailings system until the substantive issue is heard by Justice David Cannings in Madang this week.

To add to Ramu NiCo’s woes, the acting chief commissioner of the Land Titles Commission Benedict Batata had refused Madang provincial administration’s request for the special land titles commissioners to resume hearing outstanding Ramu nickel project land disputes.

Bivi said they had been informed by the department of justice and attorney-general that the disputes, being heard by the LTC until the death of its chairman, would be listed as an ordinary application for land tenure conversion to be deliberated on at a later date.

“It is obvious that we have not been supportive of this project from day one,” he said.

Bivi said they had noted new Mining Minister John Pundari’s pledge to fast-track the Ramu nickel project, hoping he would revive the ministerial committee and not sit back like his predecessors.

 

Millions 'lost' in cross border trade

By JEFFREY ELAPA

 

MORE than K40 million has been taken across the PNG-Indonesia land border in West Sepik over the years, Customs and PNG Defence Force personnel in Vanimo have revealed, The National reports.

The amount could be higher because of the many illegal trade activities taking place in the border crossing areas, they said.

The government officers estimated that about K1.8 million was transacted between Indonesian vendors and PNG buyers every day around the border town of Wutung and the trading post of Skoow in Indonesia.

Many Papua New Guineans, from Vanimo and surrounding villages, flocked to the trade centre to buy cheap Indonesian food and household goods, clothes and electrical goods.

The trading has resulted in Vanimo running low on cash and many businesses in town were closing because they could not compete with the cheap Indonesian products being sold.

They said in order to plug the leak, the BSP Vanimo branch was only allowing a maximum withdrawal of K100 a day so that the cash flow was maintained.

The officers, who wanted to remain anonymous, said a lot

of people were also entering

the country undetected and many illegal activities also took place undetected.

The officers said the border could be better monitored if they had more manpower and improved living and working conditions.

Meanwhile, Bulolo MP Sam Basil, who was in Vanimo over the weekend, said the free trade on the border should be controlled, adding that the government should regulate the free trade along the border so that such a big flow of cash did not get across the border undetected.

Basil also encouraged the people to study the Asian way of running businesses so that they could be as competitive as their Indonesian counterparts.

Back to the future

From TONY FLYNN in Wau, Morobe province

 

 I made the point that Papua New Guinea had a clean environment when I was trying to promote produce and wild mushroom drying during my election campaign.

I took dried mushroom, bananas and tomatoes as samples to the villages, very acceptable.

Had I won, I would have promoted charcoal production as a precourser of various activities such as produce drying, metal forging and melting local manufacture of

crowbars from car axles, various tools, etc.

 We have here, growing without the benefit of acid rain and windblown pollution, populations of wild mushrooms such as Shiitake, Maitake, Cep or Porchini (fresh on the Kainantu roadside at K4.00 /kilo) and various others.

The mushrooms are in quantity and are freely available to the villagers.

What is not available is the technology to dry them; the marketing can be done through the various exporters.

A million village households with most of them having access to wild mushrooms.

 The world export market is in the billions.

This brings me to the point of this email.

 PNG is training all the experts in mining, intensive (plantation) agriculture, IT, the various professions, these have parallels in developed countries, geologists and

others find employment in developed economies.

There are a lot of proven technologies fit for rural people that, if promoted, would improve life at the village level.

These technologies in the developed countries past were discarded due in part to the wage increases driving improved technology.

Wages in PNG are low leading me to believe that we should go back to find our future.

There is a place for these technologies to be promoted as a part of large organisations' social networking.

Sustainable farming should have a place for local skill development that will enable the communities to be as selfsufficient as possible and obtain only such supplies as are unavailable in the local environment.

·        Charcoal production;

·        Convenient cooking;

·        Forging and repairing simple tools;

·        Drying produce for storage and export to other centres. I previously sold dried rainforest mushrooms to hotels in Lae and Moresby;

·        Building;

·        Lime burning and limestone crushing for building and agriculture respectively;

·        Brick and roof tile making. Brick laying using lime mortar as the Romans did before cement and preferable to cement for this purpose. I have bricks to burn. At present, there are burnt brick building in Goroka that are abour 50 years old. The villagers would have no need to import cement and corrugated iron, especially to remote areas. This could also be a large business close to towns and cities using the deposits of clay present.