What is it about?

Sexually Transmitted Infections among the Youth in Papua New Guinea

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Why is it important?

The National AIDS Council of various countries, through the National HIV and STI Strategy programmes, works to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other forms of sexual infections around the world. Our study found that SR‐STIs are prevalent among both men and women in PNG. Parity, HIV testing history, age at first sex, frequency of watching television, region of residence, number of sexual partners, and community literacy level were found to be significant correlates of SR‐STIs among men and women in PNG. To address these issues, we recommend that the National AIDS Council of PNG realign their 2018–2022 National HIV and STIs Strategy program. This realignment should focus on improving accessibility and affordability of family planning services, reproductive health services, and HIV testing centers. Efforts should also be made to increase access to mass media, such as television, so that health programs, awareness campaigns, and educational materials reach men and women regardless of their place of residence. Additionally, we recommend that the National Department of Health of PNG allocate more resources and services for sexual and reproductive health in the Highlands regions.

Perspectives

People need to live with and be lived with in a healthy environment. I hope this article makes what people might think is a boring, slightly abstract area like health economics and measuring things like health, kind of interesting and maybe even exciting. Because the way we spend money on health and social care is not just a problem for politicians, managers and researchers to worry about - it is an issue that touches every single human being on this planet in one way or another. More than anything else, and if nothing else, I hope you find this article thought-provoking.

Frank L. Attila
University of Cape Coast

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This page is a summary of: Self‐reported sexually transmitted infections among men and women in Papua New Guinea: A cross‐sectional study, Health Science Reports, March 2024, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/hsr2.1970.
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