Alleged AIDS fraud angers Govt

By PNG Correspondent Steve Marshall

Posted Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:00am AEDT

The Australian Government says it is angered by reports that an Australian man in Papua New Guinea has been claiming to be able to cure HIV AIDS.

The Victorian man, Brian Marshall, has allegedly been using electrotherapy on patients and selling bottled water as a cure for the virus since late last year.

He claims to have cured more than 800 HIV positive people in PNG.

The man in charge of the PNG Government's response to HIV AIDS says Mr Marshall's claims are derailing the fight against epidemic and wants to have him arrested if he returns to the country.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Duncan Kerr, says Mr Marshall's activities are also offsetting the educational work that AusAID does about AIDS prevention.

"I feel nothing but a sense of anger that somebody is prepared to do it without any evidence and without any proper basis medically," he said.

"It's a matter of just making sure people have as much information as possible to say no, this is a kind of a cure that is too good to be true because it is not true."

The chair for the Special Parliamentary Committee to HIV/AIDS, Jamie Maxtone-Graham, says Mr Marshall's claims are destructive.

"The last thing we want is somebody coming in claiming there is magic water that can cure aids and distracting our efforts," he said.

"This is fraudulent; we know this water can not cure anything."

PNG immigration officials say they will investigate the matter.

David Patterson from the International Development Law Organisation says global laws need to be introduced to regulate the advertising of cures for HIV/AIDS.

"It's not a new problem. We have seen this in a number of developing countries with a more extensive epidemic," he said.

"There's certainly a role of the law in regulating the advertising of cures for HIV because we don't have a cure for HIV at the moment."