Fears are growing that Papua New Guinea is fast losing its battle with AIDS.

The figures are frightening.

There are on average 250 new cases reported every month on top of the estimated 100,000 infected so far.

And these are known cases.

PNG's National AIDS Council estimates the true figure for HIV infections could be six times greater than official numbers.

Unless effective action is taken to halt the disease, the country is in danger of losing its next generation.

Male attitudes

To understand how it has come to be that PNG has one of the fastest growing infection rates in the world, you only need to venture into settlements and suburbs, like Gerehu.

Here, male attitudes towards sex are at the heart of this rapid transmission.

Gerehu used to be a decent suburb in Port Moresby, but now the outer areas are controlled by the 585 raskol gang.

The police rarely venture into these streets, unemployment is rife, and crime is the major occupation.

In raskol gangs, it is a sign of status to have many sexual partners.

Sexual violence is also part of the raskol gang culture.

When these men do a carjacking, a house break-in, or an armed robbery, rape can be part of the crime.

When asked why, one man, Morgan, simply says "to show off."

"Sometimes boys, you know, they drink, drink, eh? They walk around, they see a girl, they go to a house, they raid a house and they see a mother or a girl. Yes. Get them up. Rape them up, something like that," he said.

So does everyone do this?

"Most people? Yeah, Papua New Guineans most," he said.

A third of all women in PNG have been subject to sexual assault.

Politicians with AIDS

It is not just the broken down communities in Port Moresby that are the breeding grounds for AIDS.

It is also the bars and brothels that cater for the top end of town.

It has been confirmed that at least two members of the national parliament have AIDS.

Jerry, who calls himself a "hostess supervisor" at a nightclub and brothel, frequented by politicians, as well as landowners, expats and professionals says the sexual health of the girls is not his business.

He says it is up the individual, although at certain times when he is in a "good mood" he will tell them to use condoms.

However, astonishingly, he also tells his girls not to worry, there is a cure for AIDS.

"About this AIDS, I heard there's a cure around the place, with herbs around the city," he said.

"People are discovering AIDS herbs, some liquid that you drink. Some root of some trees or - they do them, they boil them up, they do it up this medicine and then they pour them in the bottle. They sell them in the streets."

The most recent study on prostitution in PNG found 17 per cent of sex workers are HIV positive.

Pressure on the health system

The pressure on the nation's health system is enormous, and by all accounts it is not coping.

Sister Elizabeth Waken is in charge of Ward 4B - the unofficial AIDS ward at the Port Moresby General Hospital.

Patients only go the hospital when they are close to death.

Sister Elizabeth says she routinely runs out of basic medicines and supplies.

"I don't have enough bedsheets, I don't have enough masks. I don't even have enough drugs," she said.

"Sometimes we run out of crystalline penicillin. Those main common medicines we are always running out."

Sister Elizabeth can't get enough staff to work in this ward, so it's left to the families of the sick to care for their loved ones.

The hospital can't even afford to feed the patients.

Joseph Narop is from Madang and is dying of AIDS.

His wife Dana and child have been living under his bed for four weeks.

Dana is scared about the future.

There are enormous amounts of fear and stigma about AIDS in PNG.

Lewis Paling was a major in the army for 25 years but he hasn't received a visitor since he was admitted two weeks ago.

When Mr Paling's family found out he had AIDS, his wife divorced him and the rest of his family disowned him.

Morgues overflowing

Even in death, AIDS patients are discriminated against.

The Port Moresby Morgue manager, Pirika Koivi, often finds AIDS bodies dumped at the hospital or at the morgue gates.

Some families won't claim the bodies because they can't deal with the shame associated with AIDS.

Others believe the bodies are still infectious.

But the morgue doesn't have the money to bury them.

Mr Koivi says those who have died of AIDS are packed up in plastic and then it is a matter of waiting for a church group or charity to pay for a mass burial.

The morgue has the capacity for 60 bodies but it is overflowing with 200 corpses, many of them AIDS victims.

On one tray are the bodies of 22 babies.

Government response

The politicians acknowledge they have failed in their response to Papua New Guinea's AIDS epidemic.

For 15 years this disease was left unmanaged and given every opportunity to spread.

Just two weeks ago the government announced a national strategic plan to counter the AIDS epidemic.

Health Minister Sir Peter Barter admits the government responded late and that there is a lot to do.

"The capacity is one area that worries me a little bit, we just don't have the capacity within our hospitals, we don't have the capacity within our health centres," he said.

Highlands region

It is in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea that lies the greatest challenges in dealing with the AIDS epidemic.

Its vast and rugged geography, low literacy rates and the hundreds of different languages are some obstacles.

Prostitution is the only means of survival for some women, who ply their trade along the Highlands Highway, which stretches 700 kilometres from the north coast up into the resource rich Highlands.

They pick up truck and bus drivers.

It is estimated there are thousands of women on this highway who exchange sex for money, food, or a bed for the night.

The highway connects about half the country's population, transporting the virus widely.

The girls say they know about AIDS, but they haven't ever been tested.

One 15-year-old prostitute, Mary, says she is scared of the dangers of HIV.

"Two of my friends have died of it and that has scared me but as I have told you this is my lifeline," she said.

Sister Rose Bernard is one of the pioneers in the fight against AIDS in the highlands.

When the disease started to take a hold in Africa 20 years ago, Sister Rose knew it was going to hit PNG with the same devastation.

Since then, Sister Rose has been travelling all over the Western Highlands educating people about AIDS

Among the many reasons education is crucial is the increase in sorcery and witchcraft in the Western Highlands.

"Sorcery is a great problem. People are blamed for the death of other people. And even with HIV AIDS, people, some of them will not accept the fact that somebody died of this virus, and they will claim sorcery," she said.

"That means some people are going to be killed for being responsible for the death of that person. Many innocent, innocent people are being killed."

Married women not safe

Sister Rose says it is the women who are bearing the brunt of this epidemic.

She has found 90 per cent of HIV positive women have contracted AIDS from their husbands.

Marriage has become a high risk setting.

"When we ask who the high-risk people, it's not so much the sex workers, I feel, as the wives. The - the married woman. She's very much at risk now," she said.

"Their husbands have many sexual partners. And even though the wife is staying home, being very faithful, her husband is not.

"And, so, by going around with many sexual partners, you know how easy it is to pick up the virus here, since we know there are so many people living with the virus already."

Distribution of vital drugs

Hours down the highway from Mount Hagen is the remote town of Mingende.
At the local St Joseph Hospital, the nurses are prepared for the disease.

The staff have been trained to administer Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) - a drug regime that can dramatically lengthen the life of AIDS patients.

They only have three patients on ART, but they need supplies for 30 more.

Sister Kinga Czerwonka, the nurse in charge of the hospital, went to Port Moresby on a mercy mission to save her patients.

She came back with only one bottle of ART.

"You know, I was really frustrated," she said.

"You know, actually, the people who had the drugs in the cupboards and could easily open the cupboard and give it to me, they felt frustrated too, because they are just part of the system."

PNG has enough ART for 3,000 patients.

Boxes of the drugs have been found in a warehouse run by the Department of Health.

The World Health Organisation's Global Fund purchased the drugs, but they are sitting there while AIDS patients are dying.

There are now 600 patients on ART in PNG, but there are more than a thousand people urgently needing the drugs, and thousands more who will need ART in the near future.

Sister Kinga says the situation is "heartbreaking", particularly with the knowledge that the drugs are lying somewhere on the shelves and soon will be expiring.

"One day they might be, half of them might be dumped somewhere in a ditch not being used and here are people dying ... Something has to be done in this country," she said.

Health Minister Sir Peter Barter cannot offer a clear answer as to why the drugs aren't getting through.

"I'm not a doctor, you know, first and foremost. I have to be advised by the staff that I have within the Department and the secretaries and those people responsible during the AIDS Council as well," he said.

"And I'm told that we have adequate supplies of AVRs here, and the reason why it can't be released is because there has to be proper training and counselling in place in these areas.

"Now, if Mingende Hospital has the qualification, have their training, I can't see the reason why it can't be distributed."

WHO denies distribution problem

Dr Eigil Sorensen, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in PNG denies the drugs are not being distributed.

"The distribution at the moment is not really the problem - the problem at the moment is the capacity of the hospital to carry out this treatment," he said.

He says people need to be trained to ensure the patients receive the treatment in a safe way.

He says so far this year between 80 and 90 health personnel have undergone the three-week training program.

Mr Sorensen has also rejected claims that the drugs are sitting in a warehouse close to their expiry date.

He says WHO is well aware of the rapid spread of AIDS in PNG and that treatment is being "scaled up."

He says the target this year is to put 1500 people on the Anti-Retroviral treatment in PNG

"We would like to expand further and faster but it is clear that the health system, the health facilities, have limited capacity to carry this out," he said.

This story was written using material from ABC TV's Four Corners program and Radio Australia's Pacific Beat Program.