HIV/AIDS has been at epidemic levels in Papua New Guinea since 2004. While some progress has been made, there is still an urgent need to implement quality HIV/AIDS education and intervention programs across the country.

Recognising this need, ABV piloted a training course first developed by and run by our American sister agency, International Executive Service Corps (IESC) in June 2006. Known as BizAIDS, this course aims to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on micro-businesses, their owners, employees, families and the communities in which they live and operate.

The unique feature of BizAIDS is that it is geared toward participant’s essential business needs and interests. This ensures a strong turnout that allows expert facilitators to demonstrate the relevance of AIDS to people’s livelihoods. This is achieved through basic business training, which introduces the concepts of HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment in an integrated manner and in a non-threatening environment.

The benefits of this training course are not limited to the participants themselves. The structure also provides participants with the tools and confidence needed to transfer the knowledge acquired during the course to those in their communities.

The BizAIDS pilot was highly successful and received positive feedback from both the participants and local government agencies, which were eager to see the course offered on an ongoing basis. Local peer educators were also enthusiastic about being involved and reported a greater increase in knowledge of HIV/AIDS.

Due to a lack of course specific funding, ABV has been unable to run BizAIDS since the initial pilot was conducted over two years ago. ABV is therefore seeking willing organisations to partner with ABV and help fund this important and necessary training course.