First the Bad News

First the Bad News Puzzle

The pace of change in the Pacific has recently been racheted up a notch. Over the past year or so, there has been a welcome influx of new capital, giving rise to new ventures. However, economic development, especially the expansion of tourism, has given rise to disturbing trends. In addition political problems beset some of the smaller nations of the Pacific, such as Vanuatu, which is beckoning investors on the one hand and keeping a tight clamp on news on the other. Nothing spooks investors more than an unwillingess to provide information. That being said, encouraging improvements continue to be made on several fronts. But first the bad news.

One of Fiji's leading AIDS researchers warns that without better education and information campaigns, rural Fiji runs the risk of an unstoppable HIV epidemic. There are more than 140 confirmed cases of HIV Aids in Fiji and according to the Ministry of Health, 85 percent of them are indigenous Fijians. But the World Health Organisation is concerned that the numbers could be much higher. The WHO estimates there are more than one thousand unreported cases of HIV Aids in Fiji.

As a result, the global scourge now has been seen even in the smallest of island nations. The same factors that prevail in the more developed world with regard to AIDS has been associated with the nascent AIDS epidemic in Fiji: stigma, lack of education, hidden cases, poor surveillance, unwillingness of government officials to recognize its existence, and unprotected sexual activity. The sexual tourist, a phenomenon not unknown in Thailand to use but one example, has now become more widespread. Pacific Beat reports that it is believed that the first cases of AIDS were brought to Fiji by tourists.

Officially, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is lower in the South Pacific than any other area on the globe. Even in the hardest hit places -- New Caledonia, Guam and Papua New Guinea -- the prevalence rate is only about 0.2 percent. That is lower than in the United States and Western Europe, where about 0.3-percent of the population is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, the organism that causes AIDS.

On a different note, another bit of unwelcome news, is the political crisis in Vanuatu. Talks between the newly formed Government of Vanuatu and the Australian Government have failed to change a decision by the Government of Vanuatu to expel two Australian Federal Police officers. Prime Minister Serge Vohor has a strong dislike for the AFP. Approximately two years ago, he accused them of spying. Since the late 1990s, Australian Federal Police have had a presence in Vanuatu as advisors to the local police force. Vanuatu Foreign Minister, Barak Sope says far from being payback, the decision to ask the two Australian Police officers to leave the country by Wednesday next week is due to their being in breach of agreement. Typically, Sope neglected to outline the particular nature of the alleged breach.

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