"AIDS Explosion May Hit S. Pacific

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"AIDS Explosion May Hit S. Pacific

Newsday Online (12/24/98)
Keith-Reid, Robert

According to two AIDS experts in the Pacific Islands, complacency and ignorance of HIV in the region could lead to an explosion of cases. Jane Tyler, the director of the AIDS Task Force in Fiji, asserts that "there is enormous complacency, there is no political will and throughout the region there is no true understanding of the nature and treatment of HIV-AIDS." In 22 Pacific countries, there were 1,757 HIV cases and 584 AIDS cases reported as of October of this year. Many governments in the region claim there is no funding for AIDS programs and that awareness cannot be raised due to social taboos concerning sex, said Steven Vete, the Tongan director of the Suva-based AIDS project run by the U.N. Development Program. However, Vete said that these were just excuses and that projects in Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and Tonga showed that people were receptive to education programs.

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