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...perceptions experiences HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome). In the context of these surveys and interviews, various issues about HIV and AIDS came to the fore, the details of which form the basis of our papers in this collection. Some comments, however, seemed particularly representative of the dilemmas that many rural Papua New Guineans face as they come to terms with the epidemic of HIV/AIDS: Charles' condom survey, for example, recorded much speculation about the transmission of HIV among men, some respondents listing methods of transmission including 'mosquitos sucking blood and transferring the virus' and 'sharing things, clothes, underpants, cup, spoon, food, smokes, toothbrush', to 'using the same toilet, hugging, kissing [and] sores in the mouth' (Wilde 2005:19). And whilst 112 out of 114 respondents also nominated 'sex' as the primary form of transmission, 23 of these men were convinced that HIV could only be transferred after serial sexual encounters with the same partner rather than during one sexual encounter.
In women's Christian Fellowship group, many agreed vigorously when one woman argued against the use of condoms as the platform for prevention of the spread of HIV, stating that 'when God created man, he gave them [sexual] organs, and [told them] not to put other things [like condoms] on them'. Another noted that 'our mothers didn't know this sickness [AIDS]. When the sickness came, they introduced the condom: so all the ladies are living in fear of their husbands going away [to work] and coming back wanting to wear condoms'. Condoms, their use and role in preventative programs such as ABC--practice Abstinence, Be faithful within marriage, and use Condoms--which forms the basis of public health platforms in PNG, are the source of much debate, vitriol and even fear, as we see above. The National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS), formed by an Act of Parliament in 1997, has established a program for the prevention of the spread of HIV in the country's towns and villages that promotes the use of condoms during sexual liaisons and long-term relationships, but emphasises the former two practices: that is, being faithful to a partner, thereby promoting monogamous sexual relationships, or practising sexual abstinence. The NACS' slogan Lukautim yu yet long AIDS, 'protect yourself against AIDS', placed on billboards in the towns and cities, caps, and t-shirts as well as posters promoting the use of condoms through sporting heroes, for example, has been one of the major catchcrys of the national campaign. But how do people protect themselves from AIDS when methods of HIV transmission are the source of much speculation and trepidation: is this virus passed through sexual encounters, hugging or kissing, or through sharing utensils or clothing or sitting in the space of another? How can its spread be prevented and what part do condoms, for example, play in this process? In many ways, these papers address the extent to which these national programs have had an impact on people in rural communities, who, in general, travel little to urban centres outside their area or province and whose sources of information about HIV and AIDS include locally organised Church fellowship groups, school presentations, newspapers, radio and workshops organised by health centre staff such as information disseminated on World AIDS Day each year.
This collection of papers focuses on the experiences and understandings of HIV/AIDS in rural PNG, in an important corrective to the focus thus far on urban populations in the dissemination of information about the virus and attendant disease, as well as knowledge of how communities conceptualise HIV/AIDS. The papers offer an insight into some of the ways in which HIV and AIDS have begun to affect the lives and health of rural Papua New Guineans from an anthropological perspective based on ethnographic fieldwork. To date there has been little systematic epidemiological analysis of the epidemic in PNG, particularly in rural areas, so it is difficult to define with any precision the parameters of the problem. And, although there has been recent interest in the exponential growth of diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS in PNG, there is little written about the nature and extent of the disease in rural communities, although there are some important exceptions (cf. Ballard 2000; Dundon 2005a, 2005b; Eves 2003, Hammar 1996, 1998, 1998a, 1999, 1999a; Koczberski 2000; Lepani 2001; Malau & Crockett 2000; Wardlow 2002, 2006; Wilde 2005). Other studies have focused on particular aspects of the epidemic in PNG, including AIDS and STDS among 14 to 24 year olds (Jenkins 1997), and sexual and reproductive knowledge throughout PNG (NSRRT & Jenkins 1994). The four papers by Verena Keck, Katherine Lepani, Charles Wilde and Alison Dundon, examine understandings and experiences of HIV/AIDS from the perspective of, respectively, the Yupno of the Finisterre Range in the Provinces of Morobe and Madang, the Trobriand Islanders of Milne Bay Province, and the Gogodala of Western Province, particularly those in Balimo and surrounding villages.
Each represents a unique and important source of information about the way in which the emerging epidemic is conceptualised in rural communities. Keck, for example, explores young people's knowledge and understandings of HIV/AIDS and prevention strategies among the Yupno, capturing the extent to which rural youth practise pre-marital sex. Dundon demonstrates the centrality of conservative Christianity in Gogodala undertakings to prevent the spread of HIV throughout this community, with an analysis of Prayer Warrior Groups patrolling the streets of Balimo and surrounding villages. In his study of men in Balimo, Wilde shows that men utilise various methods of rationalisation and 'prevention' when sexually active in the community. And Lepani's paper presents an example of the extent to which Trobriand meanings and practices of sexuality depart dramatically from both Christian and public health discourses about 'safe sex', promiscuity and morality. In the Epilogue, Lawrence Hammar provides an insightful and comprehensive discussion of HIV and AIDS and brings together the threads and themes that arise out of these case...
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