Confronting a relatively new – though fast-growing – HIV/AIDS epidemic, PNG is benefitting from the experiences of UNICEF HIV/AIDS programming elsewhere in the region. Under a new Country Program launched in 1999, UNICEF efforts in PNG focus on behaviour change, through national information campaigns and the promotion of Lifeskills, and underpinned by improved behavioural surveillance. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission is another priority action area. Expanded initiatives responding to violence against women will also form part of the HIV/AIDS response.

The UNICEF Regional Adviser on HIV/AIDS collaborated closely in the design of the new Country Program. In September 1999, the EAPRO HIV/AIDS Unit hosted a study tour for PNG government officials and an NGO representative to project sites in north and central Thailand. UNICEF activities planned or already underway include:

Behaviour Development and Change

• Design and implementation of national media campaigns to raise general awareness and improve attitudes about HIV/AIDS, and to equip families and communities with better understanding of how to cope with HIV/AIDS. The campaigns contribute to a national-scale social mobilization campaign in collaboration with the Intersectoral Social Mobilization Group (ISMG).
• Research, development and deployment of traditional/local communication media and folk performing arts to carry HIV/AIDS messages.
• HIV/AIDS education for children and youth using peer-to-peer methodologies.
• Youth awareness-raising and education through school-based and/or project-based approaches, in close collaboration with the Curriculum Development Division of the Department of Education.
• Development and adaptation of HIV/AIDS education packages for youth, and production of modified package in major local languages.
• Micro-studies on young people's perception of HIV/AIDS.
• Development of messages for provincial radio broadcasts, specially aimed at young people in school.

Peer education on HIV/AIDS prevention by female inmates at Buimo Jail, Lae

Care and Support

• Training in one-to-one counselling of people with or affected by HIV/AIDS in two provinces through the National AIDS Council and Provincial AIDS Councils.
• A study of attitudes and practices towards children affected by HIV/AIDS at community and family level in order to predict how societies will cope with a rise in children orphaned by the disease and to help in the design of appropriate programs and policies.
• Strengthening the database on children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and projecting numbers of children potentially orphaned as a result of AIDS.
• Development of strategic plans for community-based care and rehabilitation of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and pilot implementation to contribute to the formulation of national policy recommendations.
• Improving post-natal care in health settings for HIV-positive women and their children.

Peer education on HIV/AIDS among seafarers in Port Moresby harbour

Mother-to-Child Transmission

At the request of the National AIDS Council, UNICEF arranged for an expert consultant to assess and make recommendations for implementing services for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMCT) in 2000. The mission also explored issues of support for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

Demonstrating the strength of a condom

Following on from the assessment, a PPCT program has started to emerge. A medical expert advisory panel has endorsed the PMCT protocol. UNICEF has supported workshops on assessing and improving antenatal and postnatal care, and four major hospitals have been selected for PMCT projects, including antiretroviral prophylaxis (using nevirapine).

The screening of pregnant women in antenatal care is to be upgraded to include full voluntary confidential counselling and testing services, while relevant staff will be trained in management of HIV-positive pregnancies and in administering the anti-retroviral drug nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission. UNICEF will procure supplies of the drug. UNICEF will also support the National AIDS Council in developing appropriate policies and guidelines to support PMCT, including revising the national policy relating to breastmilk substitutes.

Access to family planning services is still poor, particularly outside the main cities. UNICEF will help strengthen links between HIV/AIDS activities and family planning services, particularly in the PMCT sites.