How many people are living with HIV in PNG?
Good question. According to new estimates from the National Department of Health and the National AIDS Council Secretariat approximately 0.92% of the adult population in PNG are living with HIV in 2009. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of health facilities in Papua New Guinea conducting HIV tests among pregnant womenfrom 17 in 2005 to 178 in 2009. New data collected at these facilities have provided a clearer picture of the countrys HIV prevalence than ever before. An estimated 34 100 people in Papua New Guinea were living with HIV in 2009. HIV prevalence was found to be the highest in the countrys Highlands and Southern regions, at 1.02% and 1.17%, with lower but increasing prevalence in Momase and New Guinea Islands, at 0.63% and 0.61%. Approximately 3200 people in Papua New Guinea were newly infected with HIV in 2009 and, that same year, some 1300 people died of AIDS.
