A new HIV project supported by UNICEF NZ with help from the NZAID KOHA fund is underway in Papua New Guinea.

The overall aims of the project are:

• To increase awareness of how HIV affects children.
• To help HIV positive pregnant women reduce the chance of passing HIV on to their baby while improving their community and family support.
• To increase awareness of a telephone hotline “Yangpela” aimed at young people concerned about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Project Update March 2010

The main project activities are:

Engaging male partners in HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT).

This is an innovative approach to improving ante and post natal care for pregnant women who are HIV positive.

Currently, many pregnant women will have an HIV test carried out alone which can have many repercussions if she is HIV positive. There is a risk of violence from her husband/partner, being ostracized or thrown out of her community which means she will receive very little or no antenatal care and support.

It is vital for the mother and unborn child that she receives good care and support and adheres to antiretroviral therapy. If the male partner is encouraged to do VCT at the same time, there is much more chance that the woman will receive good care and support, and that HIV will not be transmitted to the child.

UNICEF PNG is supporting a hospital and two other local NGOs to carry out programmes to encourage male partner participation through talking to men and family groups in communities, explaining the benefits and positive outcomes.

Community Outreach

85% of the population of PNG live in rural areas. Although there are health clinics in many rural areas, a high number of people live long distances from the nearest clinic which provides HIV testing and medication.

In some cases, people will have an HIV test, return to their village and not go back to the clinic for the test result. If people are HIV positive, the clinic will give antiretroviral therapy (ART) for a three month period, and the client has to return to the clinic for the next installment of medication. Many people simply cannot afford to travel to the health clinic or have other reasons for not returning. Lack of adherence to ART medication has serious consequences for the HIV sufferer, and if she is a pregnant woman, increases the chances of passing on HIV to the baby.

UNICEF is working with a hospital in Simbu Province to send trained health care workers to remote rural areas to follow up on HIV positive clients, make sure they are adhering to medication and are receiving a good level of care and support.

Mingende Hospital in Chimbu Province will conduct Community Outreach activities

Youth Hotline

The “Yangpela” hotline was set up last year in PNG to target young people who are concerned about HIV or Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Engaging youth is a critical element of HIV prevention in PNG. For example, from what data is known, 39 per cent of all female HIV infections occur in female youth by the age of 24.

UNICEF PNG is supporting the operation and promotion of the hotline so that more young people are aware of it, for example through radio and television and strengthening linkages with local NGOs, churches, sports clubs, schools and youth friendly centres. Young trained counselors answer the phones and give advice to young people on how HIV is transmitted, the best ways of prevention, and where they can access social services such as Voluntary Counselling and Testing. UNICEF wants to increase the number of calls per day from 16 to 36 (13,140 per year).

Training

1. UNICEF PNG is organizing training courses for Health Care Workers in how HIV affects children in communities and how they can help these children more.

The training lasts over three months (3 workshops) and includes the various ways children are affected by HIV (eg they have HIV themselves, they have a family member with HIV, they have been orphaned by HIV), how organisations can do an assessment of the situation of children in their communities, and how they can create and implement an action plan to help these children. The training costs approximately $375 per person, including travel, accommodation and course materials.

2. The project is also providing training courses for at-risk youth (orphans/living on the streets / drug users) in life skills such as bread making, sewing, soap making, screen printing and fish farming. All training courses incorporate an HIV awareness component.

UNICEF NZ staff (Hamish Lindsay and Sarah Morris) visited the training centre in Banz, Western Highlands Province, and met some participants of a previous baking course who had been trained in bread and cake making and were now selling their produce at the market. They were still using the training centre’s cooking facilities but were being trained in how to make oil drum ovens (pictured) and how to manage their finances to make a living out of the process. Two of the participants had been young drug users but had stopped their drug use since the training course.

Project Update March 2010