Fight against AIDS everybody's responsibility<\/p>\n
The United Nations Program on HIV\/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned that
\nIndonesia is on the brink of an AIDS epidemic. The Jakarta Post's
\nHera Diani talked to visiting UNAIDS executive director Peter
\nPiot about the issue.<\/p>\n
Question: What concerns you most about the HIV\/AIDS situation
\nhere?<\/p>\n
Answer: There is leadership, good planning, strategy and all
\nthat at the national level. But these have yet to be translated
\ninto action in every province, every community.<\/p>\n
I don't feel the sense of urgency that is required to make
\nuse of this opportunity to contain HIV.<\/p>\n
Another issue that concerns me is the stigma. It takes much
\neffort to overcome that, and it requires the involvement of the
\nreligious leaders, authorities, businesses and so on.<\/p>\n
Not everyone here has access to treatment. I met people with
\nHIV in Bandung, they said antiretroviral drug (ARV) access is
\nvery limited, and there is still discrimination on the side of
\nthe medical profession. That to me is difficult to understand,
\nbecause they should be the first ones to help, instead of being
\njudgmental.<\/p>\n
How should we deal with religious leaders in particular?<\/p>\n
There was a time when I considered religious leaders as one of
\nour biggest problems in dealing with HIV\/AIDS. But today I
\nbelieve that they can be very strong allies.<\/p>\n
In Iran, for example, there is a very strong program to deal
\nwith injecting drugs users (IDUs), a harm reduction program and
\nall that, and it was fully supported by religious leaders.<\/p>\n
In UNAIDS, one of our best sellers is a video cassette The
\nrole of Imam in the fight against AIDS made with the Islamic
\nmedical association of Uganda. In Senegal, which is a
\npredominantly Muslim country, the Muslim leaders were really
\ninstrumental in the fight against AIDS.<\/p>\n
Everywhere, there are spectrums of opinions from religious
\nleaders who are more open, more tolerant and more, say,
\nfundamentalist. What I see everywhere is that in all religions,
\nthe highest moral imperative is always preserving life. And
\nsecond, the value of every human being. That should make for a
\nbetter understanding of people living with HIV\/AIDS, and ensure
\nthat it is the duty of everybody to fight AIDS.<\/p>\n
I'm not asking for every religious organization or leader to
\nagree on everything. The reality is people are not practicing
\nabstinence, and we need to promote condoms because it saves
\nlives.<\/p>\n
At this point, what should Indonesia focus on?<\/p>\n
Indonesia is in the early stages of an epidemic ... We see
\nepidemics in certain populations: injecting drugs users (IDUs),
\nsexual workers and their clients and among the heterosexual
\npopulation in Papua.<\/p>\n
The keys to direct prevention among people who are at highest
\nrisk are providing treatment and care for people who are
\ninfected, and general awareness among the population that HIV
\naffects everybody.
\nDo you think that with the problems of avian influenza, natural
\ndisasters, and so on, AIDS has been overlooked?<\/p>\n
I understand that there is big competition with problems that
\nare also very serious. And now, with avian flu, there is indeed a
\nrisk that AIDS will be overlooked. But we have no choice. We must
\ndeal with avian flu, but this does not mean we stop dealing with
\nHIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
Do you think there has been a double standard, in the sense
\nthat a lot of funds have been channeled to avian flu while it is
\nnot yet an epidemic, unlike AIDS?<\/p>\n
Avian flu needs serious attention because we don't know
\nwhether it will be an epidemic. Maybe there will never be one, we
\ndon't know for sure, but we can't take the risk. That's why we
\nmust be prepared.<\/p>\n
But there are some double standards, for sure. Avian flu is
\nsomething that will not be associated with shame and sins.<\/p>\n
Some say that the ABC (Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms)
\nstrategy to prevent AIDS is a bit simplistic. What do you think?<\/p>\n
Dealing with AIDS indeed is not simple. One of the things I've
\nlearned is that anything that has the word \"only\" does not work
\nfor AIDS.<\/p>\n
ABC is a good basic strategy, I believe. But for many women
\nit's pretty irrelevant. Many women, also in Jakarta, are infected
\nfrom their infected partners or husbands. It's our partners'
\nrisky behavior that is as important as our own risky behavior.<\/p>\n
So, what does ABC mean for women? Marriage is not meant by
\nabstinence, for sure. Faithful, it has to come from both sides.
\nCondoms, again, depends on the will and activity of the men. For
\nwomen, we really need some other tools. But also, the behavior of
\nmen is fundamental.<\/p>\n
There is criticism that rich countries do not give enough to
\nhelp the poor ones deal with AIDS?<\/p>\n
I certainly believe the rich countries could do more. But when
\nI look at the situation, there is enormous progress. This year,
\nin UNAIDS, we estimate that US$8 billion will be spent for AIDS
\nin developing countries and half of that, $4 billion, comes from
\nrich countries. When UNAIDS was created around nine years ago,
\nonly $200 million was spent on AIDS.<\/p>\n
But I think it should be more, for sure. There is an
\ninternational agreement that rich countries devote 0.7 percent of
\ntheir GDP, but many have not reached that point. So, more could
\nbe done because the funding gap is still wide, particularly for
\nproviding access for treatment in the most affected countries.<\/p>",
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