AIDS women fight fear and stigma as well as disease

By Jane Lee

SYDNEY (Reuters) - When Papua New Guinea's Maura Elaripe was diagnosed with HIV she thought it was a death sentence, but 10 years later she is still fighting the disease and the fear and stigma associated with it in her homeland.

The 31-year-old former nurse said many afflicted with the disease are left untreated to die in Papua New Guinea, a developing nation where black magic still rules many people's lives.

"I saw people dying in front of me -- deaths which could have been prevented," Elaripe told Reuters at the International AIDS Society conference on Monday.

"I saw a 16-year-old die just next to my bed. They said we don't want to waste our medicine on her. Another woman with HIV died and was put in a black garbage bag and they disposed of the body...that freaked me out. I was so scared," she said.

HIV-AIDS has found fertile ground in Papua New Guinea, a jungle-clad, mountainous nation, where polygamy is common and rape and sexual violence widespread.

Officially there are only about 12,000 people infected, but AIDS workers estimate that under-reporting and reluctance to be tested mean the real number ranges from 80,000 to 120,000.

The island's 5.4 million people, most of whom live a rural subsistence life, presently face an epidemic on a par with Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. An estimated 300,000 people are expected to die due to HIV-AIDS by 2025.

Papua New Guinea Health Minister Peter Barter told reporters at the world's largest AIDS conference that polygamy was a major obstacle in the fight against HIV-AIDS in his country.