PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Dec. 1) - Papua New Guinea ranks highest per capita in reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific, with 7,036 confirmed cases reported as of March this year.
An expert at the Australian National University says PNG ranks first in the number of cases per 1,000 of adult population, in comparison with Guam, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Tuvalu.
This was revealed at a one-day PNG update business conference in Mt Hagen last week by Dr. Vicky Luker of the Australian National University (ANU) in a paper titled "Sate Society and Governance in Melanesia".
"If we look at HIV/AIDS numbers in the Pacific, we can be sure of two things, trite but true; we need good numbers, but we don’t have them; and with no doubt, PNG is the Pacific island country with by far the most notifications — 7,036 reported cases as of March this year, " Dr Luker said.
In the most recent cases reported on HIV/AIDS in the first...