Start Anti-Vd

P-Ng May

Campaign

From a Port Moresby correspondent

A territory-wide campaign to

stop the spread of venereal disease may be started soon as a result of a move made by the Anglican Church in March.

The standing committee of the Diocesan Conference, meeting in Lae, asked the Bishop of New Guinea, the Rt. Rev. David Hand, to approach the Administration, with representa tives of other churches, to see if such a campaign could be run.

Bishop Hand, who raised the subject at the standing committee, told the meeting that until fairly recently VD had not been much of a problem. But with the onset of

urbanisation VD and prostitution

were increasing.

A few days later, however, a Port Moresby doctor, lan Maddocks, in a letter to the South Pacific Post, main tained that VD had always been a big problem in Papua, at any rate since the coming of the white man.

But the pattern of the disease was changing, he said. Whereas it used to be a disease of the villages it was now increasingly a disease of towns and of settlements along major roads, spread mostly by prostitutes trying to supplement low family incomes.

More men in towns

Another point, brought out at the standing committee meeting, was that due to acute accommodation short ages in the towns many men had to leave their womenfolk behind in the villages. Many of them then turned to prostitutes or other women who were not particularly discriminat ing in their sexual partners.

Whether the actual percentage of people contracting VD has risen, or whether the figures are simply keep ing pace with the growing population, one thing seems certain: there are more cases of VD now.

Some measures to counteract this are already being taken. There are more clinics, for example, and it is understood thnt the Army is starting its own anti-VD campaign.

What the church is after, of course, is a campaign aimed at en couraging moral attitudes which

Dramatic drop in South

would in themselves remove any possibility of contracting the disease —“a constructive and educational campaign designed to produce purity of heart and body”, as the standing committee puts it.

But the Anglicans believe that they ought not to “go it alone” in such a campaign. They believe that if it is to be fully effective it must be jointly organised by the Admini stration, the churches and any other interested social service bodies.

Increase in Samoa

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation reports an increase in venereal diseases generally. In some countries the problem is as acute as it was immediately after World War 11.

And this after 20 years of hard cam paigning by WHO.

Ironically, penicillin, so effective for so long in fighting VD, has given people a false sense of security.

PlM’s Apia correspondent reports that along with Western Samoa’s spectacular increase in tourism there has been a startling increase in the number of cases of gonorrhoea. How ever, nobody has yet related the two.

Cases of gonorrhoea treated at Apia Hospital have risen as follows: 1961, 7; 1962, 35; 1963, 37; 1964, 137; 1965, 148; 1966, 195; and 1967, 206.

Officials say that the increase in VD results mainly from the large number of beerhalls now in existence and the easy access to liquor, especi ally by young people. Lack of parental control is also blamed.

A report issued by the South Pacific Commission shows that there has been a distressing rise in the number of cases of gonorrhoea in Fiji—from 455 cases in 1964 to 714 cases in 1965 (then the highest pro portion ever known in Fiji).

In Tonga until 1963 there was an increase in the number of cases of gonorrhoea (35 cases in 1957, 14 cases in 1962, and 47 cases in 1963).

However, the figure had dropped to 42 in 1964.

In the Cooks Islands, gonorrhoea is still a problem, although the SPC’s report shows an impressive decrease in the number of cases—from 132 cases in 1961 to 78 cases in 1964.

However, in 1963 there had been only 68 cases.

Yaws treatment success There is a success story with the penicillin treatment of yaws however.

The World Health Organisation re ports that since 1955 there has been a dramatic drop in yaws in the South Pacific. The drop is a result of “initial treatment surveys”—conducted by WHO —in >vhich people exposed to yaws are examined, and all positive cases, as well as contacts, are treated with a single shot of penicillin. These initial surveys are followed up by further surveys and, in some cases, by treatment from local doctors and nurses.

WHO conducted “initial treatment surveys” in five groups—Western Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, GEIC, and Fiji. Here is what the surveys found: • Western Samoa. Among 5,084 people examined in 1955, a rate of 15.3 per cent, of active yaws was found. Two years later, in another survey of 2,169 people from the same area, it was found that the rate of active cases had dropped to 0.5 per cent. During a sample survey under taken in 1964-1966 in two areas covering a population of 7,839, no case of active yaws was found. • Solomon Islands. Surveys of two areas were conducted. Area One covered 35 islands and an estimated population of 115,000. Of 112,711

people examined in this area between 1956 and 1958, 14.7 per cent, were active cases. A second survey, carried out in the same area in 1959-1960, showed that the incidence of yaws had dropped to 0.29 per cent. Area Two covered 22 islands and an esti mated population of 60,000. The over all incidence of active cases, which was 14.8 per cent, in 1958-59, was reduced to 1.7 per cent, in 1959-1960. • Tonga. A survey of 55,601 Tongans in 1962-1963 showed a very low rate of active yaws—2.2 per cent.

A re-survey has not been made. • Gilbert and Ellice Islands. In 1957, out of a population of 2,339, 138 were found with active yaws and treated. • Fiji. In 1955 an examination of 4,821 people showed that 42.6 per cent, had active yaws. This was the highest rate observed by WHO in the South Pacific. After 27 months, the rate of active yaws was sharply reduced to 0.12 per cent.