Papua New Guinea
Worry #1: HIV/aids On The Increase
Now campaign goes explicit about sex
The Papua New Guinea AIDS Council has decided that being explicitly straight and open about sex is the way to go in its effort to fight the dreadful disease in the country.
The nation-wide media campaign, launched recently in Port Moresby, included the use of straight talk on words for sexual intercourse in English, Melanesian Pidgin or Tok Pisin and Motu, the three official national languages.
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Although the use of the Tok Pisin word "koap" for "copulation" in English received strong criticisms from Papua New Guineans who found it distasteful, the council is not turning back now. Among the critics were two newspaper editors who placed blanket bans on stories and advertisements, which bear the word.
However, their opposition came too late after the council, supported by the Australian Government, took out prime airtime on radio and television for its advertisements. The alarming trend in the number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country is such that it warrants such actions.
The council has established that each month in Papua New Guinea, more than 100 people are diagnosed with the virus.
The council has three vital messages in the campaign. It is telling people that the safest ways to protect themselves from AIDS are:
Apart from radio, television and newspaper messages, the same messages are also carried through other means. Large billboards are being erected in popular and frequented public places in major towns throughout the country.
In Port Moresby, for example, billboards carrying messages both in English and Tok Pisin have been erected at Jackson's International Airport. Public motor vehicles also carry stickers bearing the messages. The messages are also printed on T-shirts and caps.
Officials from the national council office tour the country to facilitate the campaign. Peer groups have also been engaged to educate others. Theatre and cultural groups are engaged to perform plays depicting real life experiences of people with the disease.
Some of the people used in the media campaign, especially on television, are either AIDS victims themselves or relatives of those who died from the disease. Prominent people are also being used in the campaign. AIDS council chairperson Dr Clement Malau was featured in the first of a series of television advertisements, telling people about precautions they must take to avoid being infected.
The council also engaged the captain of the Kangaroos, Australian rugby league team, Brad Fittler when he led his team to Port Moresby for a one-off test match against the Papua New Guinea Kumuls in October, to spread the message.
In the newspaper advertisement, Fittler, wearing an AIDS stay safe imprinted cap, was quoted as saying: "To be world champions we need to play hard, but we also play it safe. And in life like in sports, you have to play safe and stay safe from AIDS."
