HIV\/AIDS cases continue to soar in Papua province this year<\/p>\n
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua<\/p>\n
The number of people living with HIV\/AIDS in Papua province now
\nreaches 1,398 and has sparked concern among Papuans and local
\nhealth officials. Of the total, 912 people have been diagnosed
\nHIV-positive and 486 have developed AIDS.<\/p>\n
The disease has killed 172 people in Papua since it was first
\ndetected in the province in 1992, according to data obtained from
\nPapua Administration health office.<\/p>\n
Executive Director John Rahail of the Indonesian Planned
\nParenthood Association (PKBI) in Papua said on Monday that the
\nnumber of people who had contracted the deadly disease could be
\nmuch higher and that the current figure may only be the tip of
\nthe iceberg.<\/p>\n
He estimated that the actual number of people with HIV\/AIDS
\ncould be 10 times the current figure.<\/p>\n
He said if the estimated figure -- 1\/17 of the 2.4 million-
\nstrong Papuan population -- was correct, it meant that Papua was
\noverrun by the disease.<\/p>\n
Rahail said the had virus spread evenly across almost all
\nareas in the province, including remote areas.<\/p>\n
A recent survey conducted by the Papua health office
\ndiscovered that, in the Waris area on the border of Indonesia and
\nPapua New Guinea, three out of the 383 people surveyed had
\ncontracted the disease.<\/p>\n
In Puncak Jaya regency, provincial health officials recorded
\none HIV-positive case; in Jayawijaya regency, eight were HIV-
\npositive, while in Nabire regency, 14 people had contracted HIV
\nand 44 had developed AIDS.<\/p>\n
Merauke regency has the greatest number of HIV\/AIDS cases at
\n561, followed by Timika regency with 514 cases and Jayapura
\nregency with 101 cases.<\/p>\n
Rahail said the spread of HIV\/AIDS in remote areas was mostly
\ncaused by the negative habits of native villagers. For example,
\nsome individuals went to towns and procured the services of sex
\nworkers, after which they returned to their home villages and
\npassed on HIV\/AIDS to their partners.<\/p>\n
Rahail added that economic hardships and urbanization had
\ncontributed to the alarming number of people infected with the
\ndeadly disease, as more and more rural women were traveling to
\nurban areas due to a lack of jobs at home and became sex workers.<\/p>\n
Data provided by Mother's Hope Foundation supported this
\ntrend, finding that 90 percent of 284 sex workers surveyed
\nrecently in Jayapura, the capital of Papua, were native Papuans.<\/p>\n
Another factor contributing into the high number of people
\ninfected with the lethal disease was the lack of public awareness
\nand knowledge on HIV\/AIDS. Gunawan Ongkokusumo from the AIDS Stop
\nAction-Family Health International asserted that local residents
\nwere generally active with several different partners, but rarely
\nused condoms and contributed to the rapid spread of sexually
\ntransmitted diseases.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hivaids-cases-continue-to-soar-in-papua-province-this-year-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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