Aids Women Fight Fear and Stigma as well as Disease

When Papua New Guinea's Maura Elaripe was diagnosed with HIV she thought it was a death sentence, but 10 years later she is still fighting the disease and the fear and stigma associated with it in her homeland.

The 31-year-old former nurse said many afflicted with the disease are left untreated to die in Papua New Guinea, a developing nation where black magic still rules many people's lives.

"I saw people dying in front of me -- deaths which could have been prevented," Elaripe told Reuters at the International AIDS Society conference on Monday.

"I saw a 16-year-old die just next to my bed. They said we don't want to waste our medicine on her. Another woman with HIV died and was put in a black garbage bag and they disposed of the body...that freaked me out. I was so scared," she said.

HIV/Aids has found fertile ground in Papua New Guinea, a jungle-clad, mountainous nation, where polygamy is common and rape and sexual violence widespread.

Officially there are only about 12,000 people infected, but Aids workers estimate that under-reporting and reluctance to be tested mean the real number ranges from 80,000 to 120,000.

The island's 5.4 million people, most of whom live a rural subsistence life, presently face an epidemic on a par with Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. An estimated 300,000 people are expected to die due to HIV/Aids by 2025.

Papua New Guinea Health Minister Peter Barter told reporters at the world's largest Aids conference that polygamy was a major obstacle in the fight against HIV/Aids in his country.

"In many parts of Papua New Guinea a person can have up to 5 or 6 wives and 20 children. We have to change that behaviour, its a cultural matter and it will take some time to do it," he said.

WOMEN CARRY HEAVY BURDEN

The United Nations says close to 40 million people are infected with the HIV/Aids virus -- almost half are women.

Women are eight times more likely than men to contract HIV during unprotected sex, with most learning they are infected once they are pregnant. Of more than 600,000 new infections in children each year, 90 percent are mother-to-child transmissions.

"In some developing countries, HIV has significantly increased the burden of care for many women, particularly in the developing world with far-reaching social, health and economic consequences," said Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, from France's Institut Pasteur, told the conference.

When Elaripe was diagnosed while pregnant, there was no counselling available -- she lived with HIV for three years without treatment.

"Nobody took care of my emotional needs or my psychological needs. I went home and I said I'll wait for the day I die," she said. "I was so scared to go out. I lived in fear."

Elaripe said ignorance of the disease saw her sick baby turned away from hospital because her mother had HIV.

"The next day she died without any medical attention because they said that I was HIV positive...and because I was positive the baby was also positive," she said.

Medical authorities also forced Elaripe to be sterilised after her diagnosis. "I felt that my reproductive rights were also abused," she said.

Despite some improvements in treating HIV/Aids in Papua New Guinea in the past 10 years, Elaripe said the challenge of living with the disease in her homeland does not get easier with time.

"I'm hoping there will be a cure soon. I'm tired of having to get up every day to take pills...it gets scary," she said.