Papua New Guinea's Health Secretary, Dr Nicolas Mann says the country is on the brink of losing a lot of its young people to the HIV/AIDS virus.
During a three day youth workshop in Madang, Dr Mann says 6-thousand 1-hundred and three people have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS since the first case was reported in 1987.
Dr Mann says the most affected were between the ages of 20 to 34, which was the economically productive age bracket.
He says the leading cause of death at the Port Moresby General Hospital is AIDS.
The Post Courier reports Dr Mann saying that work must be done to support youth programmes to halt and minimise the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific region.
