‘I’m not afraid – I have protection!’ reads the caption on this AIDS awareness poster at the entrance to the AIDS ward of Mount Hagen General Hospital in PNG. PHOTO: AAP Image/AFP/Torsten Blackwood. Used with permission.

Arriving in Port Moresby, you are immediately reminded that HIV in PNG is very different to Australia. Large billboards proclaim Lukautim HIV ("watch out for HIV") and the radio on the short drive to the hotel played ads about HIV.

While I knew that PNG is facing an African-style epidemic, seeing these immediate signs that HIV is a political and social priority (in a way that it never has been in Australia) really brought home that I am working in a very different environment to the one I'm used to. Certainly being President of NAPWA opens doors in a way that would never happen in Australia, and it is a seductive experience to be in a country where HIV is a priority.

There are many other differences too, however, and certainly some mean I would never want to be in the shoes of people living with HIV in PNG. The absence of tests and treatments that we take for granted, like CD4 counts and viral loads, or even simple things like affordable anti-diarrhoea medicines, really hit home when I spent time with Igat Hope members.

It can be easy to get distracted by the day-to-day realities of living with HIV in a resource-poor setting, to feel overwhelmed by the level of need experienced by positive people living in a country without modern health infrastructure or a social security system.

Certainly this has challenged the social activist in me, as I am considered to be one of the many positive people living in poverty in Australia, but in PNG I am better off than most positive people who are working.

Staying focused on the reason why I was in PNG -- to assist the positive people who had established Igat Hope to get the organisation off the ground -- is a useful way to deal with these challenges. Ensuring that positive people in PNG have a strong and effective organisation that can advocate for better services is going to make a far greater difference in the response to the epidemic than anything else I could individually do.

Working with the active members of Igat Hope, I was struck by just how important peer support is for positive people when there are few other services available. The strength of the positive networks was evident everywhere I went, being introduced to 'friends' (the term used to discreetly refer to a positive person) at every turn.

This was perhaps the most striking impression I had on this trip, perhaps because this was my second journey to Port Moresby and I was more able to look past the social inequities and just connect with positive people more as a peer.

My most treasured time from this last week in Moresby would have to be the Saturday that I spent working and socialising with Igat Hope members. We shared our stories and I heard just how important the positive people who had first been open about their HIV were to others in the group. I also heard the determination of many to continue to ensure that this same peer support becomes more widely available for positive people throughout the country.

There are many challenges ahead for Igat Hope, not least of which is to forge an identity in the sector where many still don't understand the concept of a positive advocacy organisation.

But even in the few months since my last trip, I can see that many service providers have developed a greater understanding of the role of positive advocacy and become supporters of Igat Hope. While there are often misunderstandings about the role and purpose of the organisation, its members remain committed to ensuring that positive people have a voice. This determination continues to grow as more positive people experience prescriptive and judgemental service provision.

Igat Hope literally means "there is hope" -- hope for those infected with and affected by HIV. Igat Hope members are just like any other group of positive people I've worked with, and like the PLWHA movement everywhere, the movement in PNG is driven by the personal experience of positive people and our desire to be free to enjoy getting on with our lives.

I always come away from PNG full of hope for Igat Hope and for the place of positive people in the response to HIV in PNG.

Gabe McCarthy is the President of NAPWA. The views expressed in this article are the author's own.