Papua New Guinea is holding its first national conference for people living with HIV/AIDS this week, Papua New Guinea’s Post-Courier reports. Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee on HIV/AIDS Jamie Maxtone-Graham opened the three-day event Sunday, November 2, in PNG’s capital of Port Moresby.

According to the article, 47 HIV-positive conference participants were coming from PNG’s 20 provinces. Coordinator of national AIDS network Igat Hope Inc., Annie MacPherson, told the Post-Courier that 60 percent of those participants have yet to publicly disclose their HIV status.

“It’s fantastic!” she said. “For the first time we are bringing [people living with HIV/AIDS] to develop a way forward on how they can work with each other in the national HIV response.”