Options’ social development expert, Rachel Grellier, has met with Papua New Guinea’s National Agricultural Research Institute to discuss ways to reduce the possible impact of HIV & AIDS on labour in the agricultural sector.  

More than 90% of people living with HIV in the Oceania region live in Papua New Guinea. 85% of the total population of Papua New Guinea live in rural areas, and scenario modelling indicates that rural prevalence rates will increase rapidly from 2007 onwards, with numbers of people living with HIV & AIDS having quadrupled by 2012, and that this will be the key driver of the national epidemic.

Rachel Grellier and Eric Omuru, an agricultural economist, met with stakeholders to investigate ways in which HIV & AIDS are likely to impact on agricultural systems, food and nutrition in order to help guide the development of the National Agricultural Research organisations’ future research activities. Scenarios were provided on possible changes in labour availability of both women and men, the potential impact on current agricultural systems, and how agricultural research programmes need to be organised to address these changes paying particular attention to the gender dimensions of the epidemic.

A full report shows the potential direct and indirect impacts of chronic illness (including HIV & AIDS) from social and economic perspectives, and provides guidelines on nutrition, food and HIV & AIDS for research priority setting and the development of calls for research proposals.  Guidelines were also produced outlining a range of options for addressing labour-constraints.

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