PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) — The spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea could lead to more killings of people accused of sorcery, a cultural expert has warned.
Uninformed villagers too often attribute the AIDS-related deaths of younger adults to sorcery and then launch deadly witch hunts, said Hermann Spingler, director of the Melanesian Institute in the Eastern Highlands capital of Goroka.
“It’s not a question of what caused the death but who caused it.”
Deaths related to sorcery were becoming a weekly occurrence in some parts of PNG such as Chimbu and Eastern Highlands provinces, said Spingler.
PNG has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific region, with around two per cent of the population estimated to be HIV-positive. AIDS authorities fear that if efforts to prevent the spread of the disease are not boosted, more than half a million Papua New Guineans could be living with the virus by 2025.
Lack of education about the disease and stigmas surrounding it remain a problem in a country where around 85 per cent of the population live in rural areas.
Spingler, whose institute was set up by four of PNG’s main churches to research cultural issues, said deaths of people aged 16 to 35 were often attributed to spiritual rather than natural causes.
Accusations of sorcery within clans could lead to witch hunts and the killings of alleged witches, he said.
“People who get sick from HIV/AIDs, if they don’t tell anyone because of fear of stigmatization, their deaths could spark witchcraft accusations.”