Document supports fight against HIV\/AIDS<\/p>\n
I Wayan Juniartha, Denpasar<\/p>\n
The battle against the HIV\/AIDS epidemic in Bali reached a
\nturning point after the Bali governor and scores of high-ranking
\nofficials from the island's nine regencies recently agreed to
\nendorse the Sanur Commitment, a written document that will
\nprovide stronger political, legal and administrative support.<\/p>\n
According to Prof. DN Wirawan and other HIV\/AIDS activists in
\nBali, after weeks of intensive lobbying, the document was
\npresented and endorsed last Friday in Sanur during a special
\nmeeting organized by the Ministry of Health, the Bali Commission
\nfor HIV\/AIDS Eradication (KPAD) and the AusAID-Indonesia HIV\/AIDS
\nPrevention and Care Project (IHPCP).<\/p>\n
\"This (the commitment) will provide solid ground and a moral
\nand political boost for government agencies, non-governmental
\norganizations (NGOs) and the general public, which, for years,
\nhave tried relentlessly to scale up various efforts to fight this
\ndangerous epidemic,\" Wirawan said.<\/p>\n
Among the signatories of the document were Bali Governor Dewa
\nMade Beratha, Bali Legislative Council chairman IB Putu Wesnawa,
\nBali Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Teguh S, Gianyar Regent AA
\nBharata, Jembrana Regent Winasa and Tabanan Regent
\nAdi Wiryatama.<\/p>\n
The event was also attended by Minister of Social Affairs
\nBachtiar Chamsyah and Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, who
\nhailed the document as a much-needed regional initiative to curb
\nthe spread of the epidemic.<\/p>\n
\"The Sanur Commitment is, in a way, an amplification of the
\nnational-level Sentani Commitment last January. It was endorsed
\nby the governors of six provinces that have suffered the most
\nfrom the HIV\/AIDS epidemic, namely Papua, Bali, East Java, West
\nJava, Jakarta and Riau,\" asserted Surya Dogi Anaya of Bali's
\nIHPCP.<\/p>\n
The first point of the eight-point commitment outlined
\ncritical targets the signatories agreed to achieve in reducing
\nthe spread of sexually transmitted HIV\/AIDS, particularly among
\ncommercial sex workers. It advocates the routine use of condoms,
\nand aims to cover 60 percent of all HIV\/AIDS-risky sexual
\nencounters by the end of 2005 and 80 percent by the end of 2007.<\/p>\n
\"It is a very important point for us because it signifies the
\ngovernment's willingness to get involved in an issue that
\npreviously had been considered as morally unacceptable and
\npolitically incorrect,\" Wirawan said.<\/p>\n
As chairman of Yayasan Kerthi Praja (YKP), a local NGO that
\nworked primarily with sex workers, he knew too well how difficult
\nit was to popularize condom use among their clients.<\/p>\n
\"We have been working on that for 10 years. At that time, the
\npercentage of condom use was 7 percent; nowadays it is still only
\n30 percent. It shows that one-to-one intervention by NGOs has
\nfailed to achieve optimal results,\" he claimed.<\/p>\n
He admitted that the unpopular move was due to ignorance by
\nsex workers and their clients of safe sex, not to a lack of
\nknowledge or awareness of the deadly viral infection.<\/p>\n
\"We now need a structural intervention that has the power to
\nintroduce condom use as obligatory for the clients of sex
\nworkers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"One interesting example is the Thai government's success in
\nintroducing and implementing a specific regulation that dictates
\n100 percent condom use in all brothels,\" he added.<\/p>\n
In the past, the Bali administration refused to draft a
\nregulation to cover sex workers through fear that by doing so the
\ngovernment would effectively acknowledge prostitution as a legal
\nbusiness enterprise.<\/p>\n
\"It's about time that fear of the epidemic's spread outweighs
\nfear of that legalistic mumbo jumbo. Legal or not, there is a
\nhuge population of sex workers on the island right now and most
\nof them are involved in high-risk sexual behavior,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Wirawan estimated that by 2004 the incidence of HIV\/AIDS among
\nsex workers had reached 10 percent, a slight, but alarming
\nincrease from the 7 percent in 2001.<\/p>\n
\"The truly frightening thing is that some sex workers, who
\nhave been tested positive for HIV\/AIDS, continue to do business
\nwithout using condoms,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Recent research conducted by YKP shows that, currently, there
\nare around 3,000 commercial sex workers on the island. They have
\na total of 90,000 different clients and generate around 300,000
\nsexual transactions per year.<\/p>\n
\"We will soon approach the regency administrations to convince
\nthem to use the commitment as a foundation to draft and introduce
\ntheir own local regulations on condom use and sex workers,\"
\nWirawan stated.<\/p>\n
The second point of the document outlines the aim of widening
\nthe impact of the island's ongoing harm reduction program, so as
\nto cover 75 percent of injecting drug users (IDUs), including
\nthose serving terms in prison, by the end of 2005. The number of
\nIDUs on the island is estimated at 2,500 people.<\/p>\n
Currently, the island is running two harm reduction-based
\npilot projects, namely a community-based needle exchange program
\nand hospital-based methadone maintenance therapy. Both were too
\nlimited in terms of size or coverage to have a significant impact
\nin curbing the epidemic.<\/p>\n
The third point in the document is a declaration regarding
\nfuture initiatives to increase medical services and support for
\npeople living with HIV\/AIDS. It is expected that antiretroviral
\n(ARV) drugs will be provided to at least 200 people by the end of
\n2005 and to 500 by the end of 2007.<\/p>\n
\"The document also speaks about fighting and decreasing stigma
\nand discrimination, which have hampered our work,\" Wirawan added.<\/p>\n
The rest of the document outlines a variety of educational and
\nadvocacy efforts aimed at increasing the general public's
\nawareness of HIV\/AIDS issues and creating a more conducive
\natmosphere for the eradication of the disease, including amending
\nlaws and regulations that have hitherto restricted the access of
\nIDUs to sterile injecting paraphernalia.<\/p>\n
Separately, Bali KPAD chairman Kesuma Kelakan disclosed that
\nthe cumulative total of reported HIV\/AIDS cases on the island had
\nreached 452.<\/p>\n
\"However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Current
\nestimates places the number of HIV-infected people on the island
\nat around 3,000 people. Unless effective measures are taken we
\nwill soon face a situation in which the island's health is
\njeopardized and financial resources stretched to their limit by
\nthe epidemic,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Sanur Commitment, he said, was expected to give birth to
\nplenty of regency-level initiatives and legislation, which would
\neventually strengthen the island's response to the epidemic.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/document-supports-fight-against-hivaids-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}