Civil society, social capital and the churches: HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea

The churches are crucial actors in the response to Papua New Guineas growing problem with HIV/AIDS, but often they excite ambivalence. While several have led the way in supporting people affected by HIV, Christianity tends to be identified with teachings about sexuality and an opposition to condoms that many people involved with prevention deplore. In this paper I try to move beyond the glib assessment that the churches are bad at prevention, good at care. I frame HIV/AIDS in terms of development, and broadly conceptualise the activities that can affect the course and impacts of the epidemic. Without venturing far into theoretical debates surrounding civil society and social capital, I use these concepts or ideas associated with them - to think about the churches. Although they are major institutions in PNG and other Pacific Island countries, very little secular analysis of their contemporary social capacities and roles is available. Finally, I reflect upon the future roles of the churches in response to HIV/AIDS. These parting thoughts have some bearing on general issues concerning the role of churches in development.AusAID(Paper presented at the Governance and Civil Society Seminar, in Symposium Governance in Pacific States: reassessing roles and remedies, University of the South Pacific, 30 September - 2 October 2003