Impurity and danger: the need for new barriers and bridges in the prevention of sexually-transmitted disease in the Tari Basin, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The Huli of the Tari Basin have a serious problem with the spread of STDs following the opening of the Highlands Highway from Mendi in the early 1980s. Huli territory is now the site of huge mineral exploration and development and fears are held by health officers that the diseases may soon become an epidemic. The likelihood of AIDS entering the area in the near future provides a further need for all available barriers to be erected against the diseases and new bridges constructed to better health practices. Traditional teaching among the Huli emphasized the polluting effects of sexual contact. Missionary activity and the increasing commercialization of Huli culture have combined to weaken deterrents to premarital and extramarital sexual experiences. Traditionally, men believed that dangers of pollution came from two sources; women and outsiders. Only the Huli elders held these beliefs in the 1990s and little heed is paid to their warnings. Travel for work or pleasure has greatly increased among Huli men who no longer fear the outside world but rather wish to be part of it. Thus the traditional barriers which minimized infectious diseases have been demolished. The traditional Huli health-belief model is discussed and the possibility of harnessing traditional taboos in the fight against the spread of STDs is explored.