PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Sept. 5) - Children as young as nine years old and babies are among the 466 new cases of HIV/AIDS recorded in Papua New Guinea during the past six months.
This is an increase of 30 percent since the last quarterly report of 2002, released in December.
The babies were infected through their mothers either while in the womb, during delivery or from breastfeeding.
The March 2003 report published by the National AIDS Council and Department of Health, however, does not state how the young children as old as nine years old get infected, although HIV/AIDS counselors had told the Post-Courier that some of them were getting infected through sexual abuse, even by their immediate families members.
There are also others who may have been sexually active at a very young age.
The latest quarterly report also states that PNG now has 7,036 people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS since the country first reported an HIV/...