Mandatory HIV tests out of the question: Official<\/p>\n
Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia cannot make Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) tests
\nmandatory for migrant workers because Jakarta is party to an
\ninternational agreement it signed in Paris, which bans such
\nexaminations, a government official said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Haikin Rachmat, director of communicable diseases and
\nenvironmental health at the Ministry of Health, said that under
\nthe 1994 agreement, compulsory HIV tests would be a violation of
\nhuman rights.<\/p>\n
\"In accordance with the Paris Acquired Immune Deficiency
\nSyndrome (AIDS) Summit in 1994 and the government's policy on
\nAIDS monitoring, we don't require workers intending to work
\nabroad or at home to take HIV tests,\" he told The Jakarta Post\".<\/p>\n
Haikin said Indonesia and 42 other countries that signed the
\nsummit agreement declared that people who had contracted HIV\/AIDS
\nshould not be discriminated against in their field of work and
\nthat a HIV test was a matter of personal choice.<\/p>\n
He was responding to calls by demography experts for the
\ngovernment to introduce compulsory HIV tests for migrant workers
\nas a means to prevent the rapid spread of the deadly virus.<\/p>\n
Graeme Hugo, an expert from Australia's University of
\nAdelaide, said on Thursday the high mobility of nomadic workers,
\nwho often changed sexual partners, had contributed to the vast
\nspread of HIV\/AIDS in Indonesia. Hugo suggested the Indonesian
\ngovernment monitor migrant workers to control the spread of HIV.<\/p>\n
Officially the number of recorded HIV\/AIDS cases in Indonesia
\nstands at 1,559. But activists believe the number has reached
\nbetween 80,000 and 120,000 cases.<\/p>\n
Haikin said HIV tests are compulsory for blood donors and
\nforeign migrant workers if required by the host country wanting
\nto employ them. Such a test is conducted by the Ministry of
\nManpower and the relevant labor recruitment agency, he added.<\/p>\n
He said the government conducted non-compulsory HIV tests
\nevery year for the purposes of AIDS monitoring and individual
\ndiagnosis.<\/p>\n
A patient's identity should be kept confidential, he said.<\/p>\n
Haikin said the government had taken several preventive
\nmeasures to curb the spread of the virus in cooperation with non-
\ngovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n
These measures include promoting the use of condoms among sex
\nworkers and encouraging migrant workers to undergo voluntary
\ntests, he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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