Sir Peter Barter visits IMR | Minister launches broadband | PNGIMR delegation visit NARI | Directors directions | EPO project update | Update on PCV project | IMR Goroka get training on DMSys | Staff attend workshop in Malasia | New Staff | Students complete honours | This quater in picture | Gone for studies | Five staff graduate from DWU | Social Research Cadetship program | Malawi HIV/AIDS delegation visit Goroka | Message of Hib vaccie to PNG | Don Lewis revisits PNGIMR | Information for health workers for Hib vaccine | Dual visit Professor M J Cardosa's lab | Michael Alpers library news | IMR women celebrate IWD

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Malawi HIV/AIDS delegation visit Goroka

A delegation from Malawi came to PNGIMR Goroka with Sir Peter Barter during his visit to the institute.

(L-R) Dr Sam Phiri CEO of the Lighthouse VCT centre, WHO HIV/AIDS representative in PNG and Mr Matt Boxshall from the management team of theLlighthouse VCT centre

Dr Sam Phiri and Mr Matt Boxshall from the Lighthouse VCT centre in Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) came to Papua New Guinea to try to help the National AIDS Council (NAC) fight the AIDS epidemic the way it was done in Malawi.

Dr Sam Phiri is the CEO of the Lighthouse VCT centre and Mr Matt Boxshall assists with the management of the Lighthouse Centre.

The Lighthouse centre is situated in the grounds of the national referral hospital.

The most impressive strength of the Lighthouse is its architecture, which is designed for smooth human flow of a large number of people through the VCT sequence, and its integration with home care and the hospital treatment programs.

Malawi was chosen as a comparable country with PNG because its pattern of infection among age and gender resembles that of PNG (associated with similar problems of gender status, and lack of access to cash resources).

Malawi has similar pattern of heterosexual and mother to child infection; a complex and evolving cultural background defining appropriate sexual behaviour.

Malawi is 15 to 20 years ahead of Papua New Guinea in the advent and treatment of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic and now has some overall success in lowering the prevalence..

Sir Peter Barter believes that HIV and AIDS is the biggest threat to our national well being and that given problems of varied sexuality, divergent and evolving cultures, and problems with transport and communications, PNG could be heading towards a very high prevalence, and little capacity to handle it. PNG can learn from Malawi.

Malawi’s success has been in part due to a high level of multi-sectoral approach, which is indicated by the presence of the heads of the equivalent of National Aids Council (NAC) and the equivalent of the Central Agencies Coordinating Committee (CACC) here.