Otago University's Epidemiology Group has highlighted growing cases of HIV infection in the Pacific Islands, an area which they say has been largely overlooked. Of the current 11,000 HIV-infected people in the Pacific Islands, 90% of those are in Papua New Guinea. The area has a very high rate of sexually transmitted disease, due to poor understanding, cultural taboos and limited health services. According the group's latest newsletter, HIV and AIDS in the Pacific are like "a dangerously powerful storm forming offshore." A Pan-pacific AIDS conference,hosted by the NZ AIDS Foundation, will be held in Auckland in October.