Papua New Guinea To Partner With Indonesian Province To Prevent Spread of HIV Along Border

Officials in Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua are partnering to detect new HIV/AIDS cases and prevent the spread of the disease along the border between the two areas, Radio New Zealand International reports. According to Radio New Zealand International, Papua New Guinea has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, and Papua has one of the highest HIV/AIDS caseloads in the region (Radio New Zealand International, 4/1).

Officials from Papua New Guinea's National AIDS Council and Papua's AIDS Commission have held talks to develop strategies to prevent the spread of HIV along the border. Romanus Pakure, acting director of Papua New Guinea's AIDS Council, said the number of undocumented people crossing the border from Papua New Guinea to Papua, and vice versa, is increasing. "We are seeing a record of about 3,000 going across to Papua every month," Pakure said. He added that the "borders do not deter the spread" of HIV/AIDS. "The virus moves with the people," he said.

According to Radio Australia, Papua New Guinea wants to start a similar program with Australia to carry out surveillance along the countries' sea border in the Torres Strait (Radio Australia, 3/31).