A question of political will<\/p>\n
Much hope has been raised by the new plan which the World
\nHealth Organization announced on Worlds AIDS Day on Monday, to
\nprovide treatment for some 3 million people living across the
\nworld with HIV\/AIDS, by 2005.<\/p>\n
Among the few hundred thousand sufferers targeted in Southeast
\nAsia, thousands of people in Indonesia will also be able to get
\ntreatment with anti retrovirals, which is the essential
\ncombination of drugs that have been infamously difficult to
\naccess for millions of people in need.<\/p>\n
The news follows a flicker of progress that appeared in
\nAugust, when the World Trade Organization reached an agreement to
\novercome the barrier it had imposed by limiting the export of
\ngeneric drugs to treat HIV\/AIDS. Without this agreement, any
\neffort to stimulate India's manufacturing and export of generic
\ndrugs to countries in Africa -- which would free HIV sufferers of
\ntheir dependence on the much more costly products of the big drug
\ncompanies of the industrialized countries -- would be illegal
\nunder international rules on patenting.<\/p>\n
All around us, fortunately, we see increasing sources of
\ninspiration. This shows how government attitudes toward the
\nHIV\/AIDS epidemic is changing, which implies a willingness to
\nconfront the issue and no longer dismiss it as one that can be
\nleft to activists while appearing to listen more to the moral
\nsensitivities of groups with political clout.<\/p>\n
Similarly China, which not unlike us in Indonesia, has been
\nknown to cover up delicate issues, has now backed a campaign for
\nthe use of condoms. South African President Thabo Mbeki seems to
\nhave admitted his previous lack of knowledge on AIDS. He has now
\npromised to provide his citizens in need free treatment over the
\nnext five years, following successful negotiations for cheaper
\ndrug prices.<\/p>\n
Thailand is another oft cited example where much less
\ndiscrimination and higher visibility of government action has at
\nleast made it possible for wide-ranging efforts to be made to
\ntreat people living with HIV\/AIDS (PLWHA).<\/p>\n
Lessons abound of the cost of complacency: One sees it in the
\neyes of Africa's 14 million orphans, many of whom are also
\ninfected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Sick parents
\ncannot fend for their children, or even feed themselves. The
\naverage Indonesian family, especially among the poor, which there
\nare more of now than in the early days of the economic crisis,
\ncannot take care of others infected with HIV, who over time are
\nlikely to develop further complications such as tuberculosis.<\/p>\n
It is this complacency of letting people fend for themselves,
\nor with the help of a few NGOs, that is most frightening, even
\nthough Indonesia has done much to its credit compared to the
\nsituation that existed a decade ago. According to the United
\nNations AIDS body, UNAIDS, Indonesia has about 130,000 PWLHAs
\nwhose condition will worsen if unchecked, and it is estimated
\nthat millions more are infected though they do not even know it.<\/p>\n
One in two injecting drug users are estimated to have been
\ninfected, while spouses, especially women, do not dare ask their
\npartners or husbands to use condoms for fear of the consequence
\nof appearing to question their fidelity.<\/p>\n
Among the government's crucial measures have been the 1994
\nNational Strategy to Overcome AIDS, which managed to accommodate
\nboth moral sensitivities and urgent, practical messages --
\nincluding loyalty to one partner and safe sex. Another has been
\nthe inclusion of the anti-retroviral drugs in the list of
\nnational essential drugs, which is progress, compared to other
\nneighboring countries, as activist and physician Samsuridjal
\nDjauzi noted.<\/p>\n
But these steps and a number of others taken nearly 10 years
\nago have proven far from enough. Even basic information, such as
\non how the virus spreads, is unfamiliar to some in the nursing
\nprofession if we go by stories of how patients have been treated.<\/p>\n
Many schools, including those set up by religious foundations,
\nremain without sex education, which likely contributes to the
\nperception of AIDS as a issue that is confined to drug users,
\ngays and prostitutes. Some teachers have even said that it is
\nparents who discourage sex education, fearing that youthful
\ncuriosity and hormones would do more harm than good while the
\nelders themselves do not feel the need, or have the ability, to
\neven address sexual issues.<\/p>\n
NGOs have stressed time and again that it is only government
\nresources that can sustain and multiply efforts across this large
\narchipelago.<\/p>\n
In the words of Zubairi Djurban, chairman of the Indonesian
\nAIDS Society, the government is good at preparing data, documents
\nand plans to fight the spread of the virus. \"But we need true
\nleadership at the level of implementation\" to prevent further
\noverlapping of programs and to upgrade others, he said.<\/p>\n
Such teamwork is needed, activists like Zubairi note, if the
\ncountry is to remain true to its commitment to the UN Millennium
\nDevelopment Goal, including the halting of the epidemic by 2015.<\/p>\n
For Indonesia, at least, it should mean that no child should
\nbecome an orphan only because his infected parent could not
\nafford treatment, or because his parents did not even seek to
\ntest themselves, dreading life-long discrimination. That indeed,
\nwould be immoral.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-question-of-political-will-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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