By Michelle Auamoromoro – EMTV News Cadet Journalist
The National AIDS Council says that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has not gone away, in fact, it is getting worse.
The NAC now aims to reach the key population areas, and these include settlements, suburbs, and villages with trials for these planned community awareness programs are being carried out during this festive season.
The NAC has reported that they managed to bring down the statistics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country to 0.3% three years ago; however, they have seen a resurgence in the last two years.
The hot spot areas are all Highlands provinces, NCD and Morobe province.
NAC Team Leader Procurement, Maryalisca Baundo, reported that HIV prevalence is five to ten times higher than the general population, so NAC now sees the need to reach out to more people with HIV awareness.
NAC, now in partnership with the Department of Health and other stakeholders, is now working together to reach out to the people living in the settlements, suburbs and villages.
There are also risks involved when carrying out these programs and activities, so the NAC management has selected several hot spots for trial run.
Six provinces were selected for this festive season, so the NAC can see how they can partner with the communities in the future, depending on the funding availability.
