Visual Project Innovating HIV research in the Highlands

Visual Project Innovating HIV research in the Highlands

Komuniti Tok Piksa has achieved new grounds for visual and community action around HIV and AIDS in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

The project’s annual report, released on Tuesday this week at the University of Goroka noted the project’s creative outputs including an awareness song composed by teenagers in Chimbu, a photo exhibition by people living with HIV and AIDS in the Eastern Highlands, several photo narrative workshops and five short films.

Receiving the report, University of Goroka Vice Chancellor Gairo Onagi said the project was a strategic move to innovate research at the university.

“UOG is more than a teacher’s college and KTP is an example of our networking with the University of Technology in Sydney to get students involved in innovative research using media tools to work with local communities” Onagi said.

“Their achievement sets a benchmark for HIV research in the country and UOG is privileged to be working alongside the National AIDS Council, through the project, which also raises awareness among our country’s highly educated, he said.

The PNG National AIDS Council’s Research Coordinator Wilfred Kaleva said that it was pleasing to note the successes of the project with the potential KTP has for its use in the community as a HIV prevention strategy.

“It was a published report with pictures and accompanying CDs and covered all aspects of the project progress to date including challenges, preliminary results and budget, Kaleva said.

KTP Project Coordinator Verena Thomas said these small community projects were developed in collaboration with communities, using visual tools and dialogue around HIV and AIDS.

“While the report highlights our achievements for the past 12 months, there is still a lot of work ahead of us”, Thomas said.

This project’s achievement is a major response to the Systematic Literature Review conducted in 2009, calling for an innovative approach to HIV & AIDS awareness in PNG’s diverse country context.

Authors Evelyn King and Tony Lupiwa noted in the review that provincial and community led and driven responses, as well as positive engagement with PLWHAs and guidance from tradition and culture had to be prioritized.

With 2007 statistic from NACS showing an estimated 23 210 people living with HIV in PNG, culminated with the lack of awareness messages filtering through to the communities, a more locally oriented response is showing success.

Community engagement with technology and collaboratively developed messages are processes that KTP has been using and it is creating dialogue among communities about the HIV.

The first 12 months has allowed KTP to establish a visual research and community action process, which had not been done extensively in the country using media tools.

The interaction between researchers, communities and media tools will be developed further this year into a manual for other groups willing to use such an approach.

ENDS

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