UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot said the number of HIV/AIDS infections threatened to snowball in the Pacific, a development he said would not only take a significant human toll but potentially add to the region's economic woes and increase political instability.

"The history of the AIDS epidemic has taught us that once things start moving it's like a snowball and it's going to get worse and worse," he told

"The stage is set for an expanding and widespread HIV epidemic in the region due to a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted infections and risky sexual behaviour among young people aged 15 to 25," he said.

Piot said Papua New Guinea and the neighbouring Indonesian province of Irian Jaya were the worst affected, with HIV infection rates up to 10 times higher than other Pacific nations.

"PNG needs a very, very vigorous response, otherwise it will go the African way," he said. In some African nations, almost 40 percent of the population are HIV-positive, with rates rising to 60 percent in the worst-hit regions.

"PNG has everything that's wrong -- lots of migration within the country, family disruption within towns and villages, a lot of sexually transmitted infections and a sexual culture that makes HIV spread very rapidly, despite the influence of various churches advocating abstinence."

Piot said there was a reluctance to acknowledge the problem in many Pacific nations because sexual matters were regarded as taboo.

But he said attitudes appeared to be changing and UNAIDS was holding AIDS prevention workshops with Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) this week bringing together representatives from 16 Pacific nations.

"It's interesting that it's with the traditional chiefs, to say look 'AIDS is here you've got to do something now before it gets out of hand'," he said.

GCC chairman Epeli Ganilau said earlier this month that AIDS could wipe out Fiji's indigenous populations if infection rates were not checked.

Piot said he would ask Australia to take a leading role in combating AIDS in the Pacific, in the same way it has become more interventionist on security issues in countries such as the Solomon Islands and PNG recently.

"AIDS does have an impact on a societal level and can harm overall stability, which is precisely what (Foreign) Minister (Alexander) Downer has been talking about on security with Australia helping our its neighbours," he said.

He praised Australia's efforts to fight AIDS in PNG, where it supports programs worth 60 million dollars (44 million US), but urged Canberra to step up efforts in other Pacific countries.

"By any standard, that's a very serious effort but I think more should be done across the region and that's where Australia's expertise and experience could be more extensively used," he said.

Piot said preventing AIDS in the Pacific would involve grassroots campaigning that respected local cultures but raised awareness about the virus.

TERRA.WIRE