Sexuality, Morality and Lifestyle: The ABC of HIV Prevention Strategies in Rural Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This article explores the national program for the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea and its intersection with the experiences of a rural community in Western Province. The social marketing of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention has seen an influx of categories and definitions of people, sexual behaviour and HIV/AIDS that have the potential to create confusion, but also spaces in which rural populations can understand and conceptualise AIDS. In the present paper, the preventative program is examined from the perspective of the Gogodala, whose understandings of sickness and prevention are based on an intimate and interactive relationship with the local environment. In this context, 'lifestyle' (ela gi) and the maintenance of certain 'laws' is the primary method of sickness prevention. I argue that an exploration of the local dynamic between sexuality, morality and lifestyle is vital to the evaluation of the impact of these awareness and prevention programs and the possibilities for future prevention strategies.