Q&A: ‘We’re Doing Something About the Health System’

Morauta

Papua New Guinea accounts for some 96 percent of all HIV infections in the Pacific, owing to factors ranging from lack of resources to heterosexual modes of transmission and need for more education and prevention. Here, PNG Coordinating Mechanism chair Lady Roslyn Morauta tells TerraViva’s Lynette Lee Corporal about the ills of the health system around HIV and AIDS and how the picture looks ahead.

TerraViva: How is Papua New Guinea addressing problems in the health system and the lack of health workers in many rural areas?

Morauta: It is true that the health system is not that great, but it’s not true that we’re not doing anything about it. Papua New Guinea has a very complicated health system in that it has a divided function between the national and the provincial governments. Money is given but there is not enough control over the expenditure, no accountability.

TerraViva: How serious is the lack of health personnel in remote areas in PNG?

Morauta: It’s one of the biggest problems the country is facing right now. Apart from a lack of doctors, we have also a growing number (in the) ageing work force. Much attention also needs to be given to training young health workers. It is being done now but we still need a comprehensive analysis of the work force and where they are being placed.

TerraViva: How difficult is it for women’s groups to promote HIV/AIDS awareness?

Morauta: Papua New Guinea is still a male-dominated society but we’ve so many strong women that are pushing for reforms and there are a lot of activities involving women as well. People generally are aware of the HIV/AIDS issue now. Our problem is the lack of access to treatment. While there is treatment available now in the provincial level, this is only found in the main centre. We need to get the antiretroviral treatment out to the district levels as well. At the moment, more than 6,500 people are on treatment. But we know that it’s very expensive to run health care services in PNG. Provinces are big and transport is hard and expensive. We need to improve infrastructure to deliver basic services. We also need to train people how to properly administer anti-retroviral therapy.

TerraViva: What is the impact of PNG’s diverse cultural traditions on the HIV awareness campaign?

Morauta: Traditionally, PNG culture is very inclusive. There are a lot of good things there such as how families and communities care for sick people, for instance. But what is it about HIV/AIDS that causes so much stigma and discrimination? Perhaps it has to do with the topic of sex being considered taboo. Sometimes, this is compounded by religious attitudes. Not everybody speaks the same language as well, and talking about HIV/AIDS has to be done in different ways.

TerraViva: How do you assess the participation of Pacific island nations over the years in efforts to curb HIV/AIDS?

Morauta: I think we’re seeing more Pacific countries’ representation, particularly in recent years of ICAAP. In this year’s congress, we’ve seen some good political representation, which we didn’t have before in the past. After this, we expect to strengthen the drive against the spread of HIV/AIDS with the help of various sectors.

PNG does not really suffer from a lack of financial resources for HIV/AIDS work, but how this budget is utilised that is a challenge. But the good thing is, despite these challenges, we are achieving the goals that we have set up. (END/IPSAP/TV/LLC/JS/09)