Aids Epidemic

The HIV/Aids epidemic in Papua New Guinea is under the spotlight again with two new projects coming at the problem from very different directions.

HIV and AIDS became household words nearly 30 years ago, but the virus and the disease it causes surfaces in nearly 10,000 more Floridians every year -- 80 to 100 of them in Manatee County.

While AIDS and HIV no longer command the nation’s attention like in years past, the public health threat remains strong despite advances in treatment and survival. People still cannot afford to relax their precautions against this incurable disease and

For people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS, life is full of pills, blood tests, financial anxiety and sometimes isolation.

The state government constituted the Manipur State AIDS Control Society as the nodal agency in March 1998 to combat an epidemic. Manipur, with hardly 0.2 per cent of India's population, is contributing 8 per cent of the country's HIV-positive cases.