A Papua New Guinea - Australia HIV research partnership: generating new knowledge, building capacity and forging new friendships

[Extract] Partnerships of mutual benefit are often forged to confront a common challenge. One such challenge is how to address HIV in Australia's nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea (PNG). With a wide range of cultures, a largely rural population and a host of other development issues, PNG is a tough environment in which to conduct public health research. In order to overcome some of these obstacles, researchers formed a collaboration between three universities: James Cook University in Australia, and the faith-based Papua New Guinean Universities of Pacific Adventist University and Divine Word University. This article describes that partnership, outlines our research capacity building activities and describes how colleagues become friends while contributing to the national and regional HIV response.