Nation takes solid step against HIV<\/p>\n
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Daniel (not his real name), started using drugs when he was in
\nhigh school, frequently sharing needles with his friends to
\ninject the drugs to which he had grown addicted.<\/p>\n
Little did he know that the habit exposed him to the dangers
\nof contracting the AIDS-causing Human Immunodeficiency Virus
\n(HIV) -- he was diagnosed as HIV-positive a year ago.<\/p>\n
\"I really didn't realize back then, I just thought of how I
\ncould fulfill my cravings when they hit me, and sharing needles
\nwas just the most practical way at the time,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Daniel, now 23, \"clean\" and a volunteer at a drug
\nrehabilitation center, is just one of the many injecting drug
\nusers (IDU) in the country who are vulnerable to HIV\/AIDS and in
\nneed of the benefits of a harm reduction program, which would
\nprovide them with clean disposable needles and a methadone oral
\nsubstitution treatment to get them off drugs.<\/p>\n
The health ministry data shows that from 1987 -- when the
\nfirst HIV\/AIDS case was recorded in the country -- to December
\n2004, at least 6,050 people had contracted the virus, of whom
\n3,368 were diagnosed as HIV-positive and the remainder had
\ndeveloped AIDS.<\/p>\n
The government is aware that the figures reflect only recorded
\ncases, and agrees with the estimate from experts that the actual
\nnumber of people living with HIV\/AIDS (PLWHA) is likely to be
\nmuch higher -- somewhere between 90,000 and 130,000.<\/p>\n
More fortunately, having fully realized the scope of the
\nproblem, the government has moved swiftly to address it -- most
\nrecently, through the Indonesian National Harm Reduction
\nConference from Feb. 14 through Feb. 17, which involved
\ngovernment institutions, the National Police and non-governmental
\norganizations (NGOs).<\/p>\n
The conference was the first of its kind to be held in
\nIndonesia, and also the first national conference on harm
\nreduction to be held in Asia.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and National AIDS
\nCommission (KPA) chairman Alwi Shihab said at the conference that
\nthe HIV\/AIDS issue should not only be the concern of a particular
\ngroup, as it was a problem for the entire nation, if not the
\nwhole of humanity.<\/p>\n
\"If we do not address this problem now, then what we will have
\non our hands is a national catastrophe, perhaps greater than that
\nof the recent tsunami disaster in Aceh,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Deputy minister for health affairs and KPA secretary Farid W.
\nHusain explained that the conference was held due to the
\nsignificant increase of HIV infection among IDUs.<\/p>\n
\"If previously HIV was mostly contracted through unsafe sex as
\ncompared to unsafe injecting drug use, the tables have now
\nturned,\" he told The Jakarta Post. \"We have to put a brake on it
\nnow, before it is too late.\"<\/p>\n
The conference, Farid said, was a forum for all stakeholders
\nin the country focusing on HIV\/AIDS to share their knowledge and
\nexperience, achieve a better understanding of one another's
\nactivities and further cooperate in establishing a national harm
\nreduction strategy for IDUs.<\/p>\n
For its part, the government has provided Rp 80 billion
\n(US$8.8 million) of the total Rp 200 billion various institutions
\nhad donated to the program. The government has also allocated Rp
\n120 billion to execute its 2003-2007 strategy against HIV\/AIDS,
\nwhich includes campaigns, public education, seminars, harm
\nreduction programs and the provision of antiretroviral drugs.<\/p>\n
\"The government has also established a cooperation with two
\npharmaceutical companies in producing low-cost, disposable
\nsyringes for harm reduction programs,\" Farid said.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the government's policies in addressing
\nHIV\/AIDS-related problems among IDUs, Palani Narayanan of the
\nIndonesian HIV\/AIDS Prevention and Care Program (IHPCP), which
\nco-sponsored the conference, said compared to other affected
\ncountries, the government had moved effectively and quickly.<\/p>\n
\"In many other countries in the world, in Asia, they are still
\nhaving problems doing that,\" Narayanan told the Post. \"The
\nproblem is that the drug people think it is a drug problem, while
\nthe health people think it is a health problem, whereas HIV\/AIDS
\namong IDUs is an issue for everybody. Everybody has to understand
\neach other's programs and find areas where can work together.\"<\/p>\n
Narayanan pointed to the conference's significance, as its
\nmain organizers were the country's two most prominent
\ninstitutions concerned with the issue -- the KPA and the National
\nNarcotics Agency (BNN).<\/p>\n
\"This shows that there is now a shift of paradigm at the
\nhighest level of policy makers,\" he said. \"I think more and more
\nnow, all the government policy makers are realizing that they
\nhave to work together.\"<\/p>\n
Narayanan explained that in the past, NGOs had been conducting
\ntheir own activities, while the KPA, the BNN and the health
\nministry pursued their own policies and strategies separately.
\nFurthermore, NGOs were worried that the police would arrest them
\nif they implemented needle exchange programs, because the needles
\ncould be used as evidence for drug-related offenses.<\/p>\n
\"So if we look at the conference, we are very happy that there
\nare representatives from the BNN, the police, the KPA, the health
\nand social affairs ministries, universities and NGOs, as it
\nprovides an opportunity for different policy makers -- and also
\nbetween policy makers and NGOs -- to come together.\" he said.<\/p>\n
He hoped that a national policy would be drawn up allowing
\nNGOs to conduct more programs with greater national coverage.<\/p>\n
\"Coverage is really important if we are really serious about
\npreventing HIV\/AIDS,\" he said. \"The existing harm reduction
\nprograms and pilot projects are good, but not enough, because we
\nhave only been reaching 10,000, or less than 10 percent or so of
\nIDUs.\"<\/p>\n
He added that many means for outreach expansion existed aside
\nfrom NGOs, such as community health centers and hospitals.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Pisani from Family Health International Stop AIDS
\nAct agreed, saying that pilot projects alone were not enough to
\nprevent the spread of HIV\/AIDS among IDUs in Indonesia, and more
\nharm reduction projects should be set up in as many places as
\npossible.<\/p>\n
\"What we also need now is more commitment, compassion and
\ncourage in carrying out the programs,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, country director for the Joint United Nations
\nProgram on HIV\/AIDS (UNAIDS), Jane Wilson, said Indonesia was the
\nonly country in Southeast Asia to have implemented comprehensive
\npilot projects for IDUs and HIV, as well as being the only large-
\npopulation country globally that could prevent a generalized
\nepidemic of HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
However, UNAIDS estimates that Indonesia has only three years
\nto make this happen, as it is among those countries seriously
\naffected by the global HIV epidemic, which has infected some 39.4
\nmillion people as of 2004.<\/p>\n
The health ministry estimates that PLWHAs in the country will
\nnumber about one to five million people by 2010.<\/p>\n
\"Resources will double in 2005, but the question is how we can
\nmake these funds work for the people,\" Wilson said, stressing the
\nimportance of partnerships between stakeholders in conducting
\nneedle exchange programs and methadone treatment, which have been
\nproven to minimize HIV infection among IDUs.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nation-takes-solid-step-against-hiv-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}