Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

More information needed to counter HIV/Aids in Indonesian province of Papua

Posted at 17:22 on 25 November, 2007 UTC

The secretary of the National AIDS Prevention Commission in Papua, Nafsiah Mboi, has called on all

parties in the Indonesian Province to not make the HIV/AIDS problem there a political commodity.

She made the call at a journalist training course on health and legal affairs which was held in cooperation with the Indonesia-Australia Specialized Training Project.

A survey had shown that the high rate of HIV infection in Papua was due to shortage of information about the disease or the fact that information had not reached the people.

Nafsiah Mboi says Papuan people have no access to information on what HIV/AIDS really is and how to prevent or fight it.

She says what is needed by Papua was the continuous dissemination of information on HIV/AIDS.