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The following is from The Independent, July 7. Odd to open this file with this information, but here it is:
End of an idyll as Aids soars in South Pacific
By Kathy Marks, in Sydney
07 July 2002
Internal links
End of an idyll as Aids soars in South Pacific
Thailand set to test Aventis Aids drug
Martin Wroe: Stopping Aids takes more than a scare campaign. It takes leadership
One faraway region will be watching this week's international Aids conference in Barcelona with growing fear. While developed nations such as Britain are learning to live with Aids, the South Pacific is just beginning to grapple with the problems that the West faced 20 years ago.
The South Pacific, thanks to its relative isolation, is the last part of the world to be hit by the disease. The first cases were reported less than a decade ago, and the spread was initially slow. But Aids has now gained a significant foothold and is causing increasing concern, particularly in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where an African-scale tragedy is feared.
As some of the world's leading scientists prepared to gather in Barcelona, United Nations Aids experts warned last week that 68 million people could die by 2020 without a dramatic rise in prevention and treatment programmes. They said the epidemic had not yet peaked, and called for urgent action to tackle spiralling infection rates.
In Western countries HIV-positive people are surviving for years, thanks to the development of combined anti-retroviral drugs. In the South Pacific, many people do not even know how the virus is transmitted, and many of those infected are unaware of their plight.
Health educators in the region are fighting the same ignorance, apathy and misconcep- tions that hindered the early stages of the war against Aids in the West. The same moral dilemmas that confronted developed nations in the early 1980s are being painfully debated – exacerbated, in many parts of the Pacific, by the influence of fundamentalist Protestant churches.
Education campaigns are also complicated by cultural factors, such as reticence about sexual matters. In PNG most of the population lives in remote tribal villages where the subject of Aids is still taboo. "These are people who have never seen a condom," said Andrew Peteru, HIV/Aids adviser for the South Pacific Community, a regional development organisation.
A recent report by AusAID, the Australian government aid agency, estimated that 15,000 people in PNG – amounting to 0.33 per cent of the population – are HIV-positive. Few doubt that those figures represent the tip of the iceberg and experts warn that the epidemic could wipe out an entire generation.
"People who get sick in Port Moresby [the capital] go home to their villages without necessarily knowing what's wrong with them," said Clive Moore, a South Pacific expert at Queensland University. "They may well put it down to sorcery. Even if they had an inkling, there are no drugs to treat it. Then there is the shame. They are often rejected by their tribes and their families."
Clement Malau, a public health officer with the National Aids Council Secretariat in Port Moresby, said at least 17 per cent of prostitutes in the capital were HIV-positive. "It's the same as in Africa a decade or so ago," he said. "We're seeing exactly the same trends."
While PNG is experiencing the Pacific's worst epidemic, the disease is also spreading at an alarming rate in countries such as Samoa and Fiji, where whole families are infected.
There are rising numbers of cases in the tiny nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu, whose main source of income is seafaring; most young men work overseas in the world's merchant navies. There is also growing concern in Tahiti, a big tourist destination, and in the Solomon Islands, which are frequented by fishing boats from Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The Solomons, where the war against Aids has been handicapped by civil unrest, recently launched a poster campaign politely urging its citizens to "protect the ones you love".
"The reality is that the disease is now present in every country in the Pacific, and is spreading through the populations," said Mr Peteru. "It has taken hold, and we are now starting to see patterns of mainly heterosexual transmission." Most countries in the region have developed national Aids strategies, but have been slow to commit the necessary funds.
Different attitudes towards gender and sexuality in the Pacific are obstructing efforts to combat the disease, according to Dr Moore. In some areas, divisions between gay and straight are fluid. "You can't say, 'Let's go and look for the gay community', because it's invisible and includes all manner of people," he said.
In many parts of Melanesia, ritual homosexuality is common. In PNG, it is the custom among certain tribal groups to share wives. Myths – such as the notion that sleeping with virgins can cure Aids – encourage unsafe sex.
It is all a far cry from the West's romanticised image of the South Pacific as a carefree Utopia. If that image ever reflected reality, it no longer does: Aids has invaded paradise.
It's being quiet here even though there is action in the various cities of PNG. Here's a sample of what PNG can offer; a Milne Bay lass in action.
A few more shots to get the ball rolling.
Usibada- What sort of action do you find in PNG. Is there any street action at all. How did you find the girl in the pictures?
[QUOTE=Blik2]Usibada- What sort of action do you find in PNG. Is there any street action at all. How did you find the girl in the pictures?[/QUOTE]Street action, I hear could be found from behind the Boroko Post Office or a certain residential area in Boroko, but I wouldn't recommend that; they're ugly, stinky and unfuckable. Your best bet would be the Pondo bar (Crowne Plaza Hotel) or Gold Club (Lamana Hotel) for a freebie. Uni students and office girls hang out from Wednesday nights on, though there'll be the odd prostitutes from the big Hanuabada still trying to solicit some business.
PS: Here's some Lamana leso action.
Few more to wet the taste buds.
Pussy hungry.
Munchie, munchie!
Usibada. looks like you had some fun. they are both Uni students? I must say I am impressed with the quality. how much did this cost you?
I was in PNG a few years back, in PM, and also Rabaul, and found most women to be fairly ugly. ( I am being nice here ).
nice to see there are a few good looking ones.
1Ball,
I do agree that the girls, esp WG are not that attractive if you're looking for a nice lay. These 2 girls ended up with a friend of mine who had the pleasure of photographing them.
Here's another picture of a girl who works as a waitress at the Lamana Gold Club whom I had the pleasure of taking to my hotel room after she finished work at 3am. Sorry not many fotos or facial as she couldn't give me a chance to play with the camera; she is a real sexaholic in bed. She even rang work at 3pm the next day and reported sick just to spend another day and night with me in bed. can't wait to get back to PNG in a few weeks for more mongering.
your awsome!! Very cute girls. i sould do any of them. HOw about prices and where can they be found? THink I might make the island a destenation of mine in the future,
your awsome!! Very cute girls. I would do any of them.
HOw about prices and where can they be found?
THink I might make the island a destenation of mine in the future,
Usi,
I'm in ALotau later this year (Intnl Hotel), as wel as in the Trobriands. I know your posts are outdated a bit but perhaps you could give some advice where to find the action still? It is very hard to find decent info about this corner on the planet.
The chicks in the pics are awesome!
Thanks for any input mate.
[QUOTE=Usibada]PS: Here's some Lamana leso action.[/QUOTE]Didnt know that Peruvian chicks were working in Papau New Guinea. How strange! How lame of you to put that contraband.