The rapid ongoing spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea is a serious  economic, medical, political and social problem not only for the concerned individuals and their families but also for the nation as a whole. The runaway spread of HIV/AIDS is now a burgeoning threat to the very existence of Papua New Guinea, and, unchecked, it will menace the whole Pacific area. It is already ripping the fabric of the country, striking virtually every sector of society and threatening to cripple the economy and what few resources there are left to confront it. But the frightening reality is that the best efforts of government, NGO's and community groups are not making any measurable improvement.

 Clearly, two crucial preventive avenues...learning from the harrowing experiences of others and knowing how to harness available resources..... have been barely explored.

 1) PNG must draw upon the spiraling tragedy of Southern Africa, recognising and accepting it as a global teacher

2) PNG has to explore the relevant perceptions and belief systems of its own indigenous people. It's essential that their perceptions to the various HIV/AIDS awareness messages are analysed as a matter of urgency.  Critically, that focus must include an evaluation of how they adapt their traditional beliefs and cultural norms to their fairly recent introduction to Western ways. This is the key to discovering how this is influencing their everyday sexual behaviour.

PEGS has already conducted such a Pilot Action-oriented Study in Madang in 2006 as part of conducting  a  Research Methods Training Workshop at the  Divine Word University in Madang. The study was reported in The National, one of PNG’s English newspapers; a provisional report was presented at the National Research Institute in Port Moresby.

Subsequently PEGS  was one of only three organisations the ADB short-listed for a multi-million US Dollar grant that focuses on Behavioural Research in the context of AIDS in PNG.

One of the most valuable features of the KASC  project will be the involvement of a Zambian medical doctor, Dr Edwin Mapara, who has designed and implemented important programmes concerning the socio-medical aspects of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa for over 20 years. A further vital critical feature will be a focus on the different variables influencing continuing unprotected sex with multiple partners that further accelerate the spread of the pandemic.

 The outcome will be an evaluated pilot programme that will design and implement a Social Marketing Strategy based on an in-depth understanding of culturally determined behaviour derived from sound Culturally-Adapted Social Market research,KASC will especially target young people in a new bid to change existing sexual practices, which we know will both arrest and reduce the national infection rates. It will also break down the existing barriers between the infected and the community at large as well as their own families and friends. Both of these objectives go hand in hand.

 Project Structure

KASC will be a collaborative effort that will combine the relevant skills and experience of INA  and PEGS in the war on HIV/AIDS in PNG.  PEGS has a recognised team of experts skilled in the application of communication techniques to improve levels of living. PEGS published highly acclaimed Manuals covering both Culturally-Adapted Social Market Research (CASOMAR) and Social Marketing (CASM) criteria. These Manuals are currently being translated into Tok Pisin  (PNG lingua franca) for use by PNG investigators.

PEGS team members also have a good record in conducting Training Workshops for National trainers of local investigators/operators. PEGS members, including Dr. Edwin Mapara, are anxious to contribute their expertise to train INA and other suitably qualified Nationals so that they in turn, can train local investigators/operators in CASOMAR and CASM skills to both arrest and then drive down PNG’s soaring HIV infection rates as well as how best to care for the already infected.