KEY POINTS:
Pacific politicians have been told to get out of a "denial" mentality and show strong leadership on tackling HIV-Aids or face a crisis of African proportions.
An Australian High Court judge, Justice Michael Kirby, told a regional meeting on the issue in Auckland yesterday that he had witnessed the follies of sub-Saharan Africa whose leaders had, at a crucial period, not wanted to tackle the growing problem of Aids.
Justice Kirby, who was a member of the inaugural World Health Organisation's global commission on Aids (1988-92), said he had been invited to South Africa to advise the country of the strategies of New Zealand and Australia, both which had shown good leadership on the issue.
"But they didn't listen. I told them about what we had done like major public education, ethics in school education, promotion of condom availability and use."
In Papua New Guinea, with a population 5.5 million, the rate of new HIV diagnoses had increased at about 30 per cent a year since 1977, raising the potential for a rapid onset in other Pacific islands.
Some 1.8 per cent of the adult population was infected with HIV and the prevalence in urban areas might be as high as 3.5 per cent, comparable to the situation in sub-Saharan Africa. "Do not repeat in the Pacific the southern African experience of neglect, denial and inaction."
Justice Kirby said politicians had to be upfront and truthful and recommended the decriminalisation of sex workers and other measures. Churches also needed to get involved in the struggle.
The UN resident co-ordinator Papua New Guinea, Jacqui Badcock, agreed strong leadership was crucial, saying: "Without it, tackling the tough and sensitive issues associated with HIV, going against the stream of prejudice and ignorance and ensuring a society-wide and multi-sectoral response is hard to imagine."
Work was needed to address the injustice and legal impediments that hindered addressing HIV in the Pacific region where women were increasingly being infected by unfaithful husbands or partners.
Papua New Guinea's Health Minister, Sir Peter Barter, told the Herald it was up to leaders to fight the disease and his country had done more on the issue than its Pacific neighbours. "The rest of the Pacific is in a state of denial."
He said stigmatism against those with HIV had been radically reduced in PNG in just a couple of years. "You can now go to villages and talk about HIV because of the awareness."
A visit to Africa last year brought new ideas that had been put in place such as the rapid testing for HIV, which could give a result in 20 minutes.
Those infected with HIV were now being treated "at the front of hospital not the back" - a far cry from a decade ago when some highland villagers killed Aids sufferers.
The Samoan Deputy Prime Minister, Misa Telefoni Retzlaff, said when he started taking a strong leadership role on HIV-Aids about 12 years ago his political enemies put out a story that he was a "closet queen".
"It takes guts in our island communities to be an HIV activist."
Mr Retzlaff said political leaders needed to more aggressively harness their communities to do something about the disease.
Nauru's Health Minister, Dr Kieren Keke, said it was hard to raise issues such as the need for sex education in schools without a community backlash.
There was an underground prostitution industry in Nauru - a high risk group in the small country with no known cases of HIV yet - but any attempt to decriminalise it would meet strong resistance.
Dr Keke said the strong church influence was part of the problem.
The UNAIDS co-ordinator Pacific sub-region, Stuart Watson, said there were encouraging signs from the churches, although the rhetoric did not always meet the reality. In 2005, Pacific churches had apologised to people living with HIV-Aids for any inadvertent discrimination in the past.
Mr Watson said legal measures such as protecting confidentiality in testing and health care were needed in many countries to help combat the disease. "We want to ensure the rights of those living with HIV."
People with HIV-Aids could face judgmental treatment from health workers and face other consequences of a deep social stigma.
