Teach teenagers use condoms, AIDS experts say<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Experts greeted today's International AIDS Day
\nwith calls on the weekend for sex education -- including how to
\nuse condoms -- to curb the spread of the deadly disease among
\npreteens and teenagers.<\/p>\n
Psychologist Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono and an activist from the
\nIndonesia AIDS Foundation, Ninuk Widyantoro, agreed that
\nteenagers should be taught in school not only about reproductive
\nhealth and pregnancy but also how to use condoms.<\/p>\n
Sarlito stressed that the religious approach was no longer
\nenough to prevent youngsters from becoming sexually active.<\/p>\n
\"Religion is no longer their life's guidance. Talking about
\nreligion to them is nonsense. They definitely have to know how to
\nuse condoms rather than become infected with HIV\/AIDS,\" he told
\nThe Jakarta Post on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Moslems, who account for a majority of the nation's
\n200 million people, are wary about the campaign to promote
\ncondoms as a way of curbing the spread of Acquired Immune
\nDeficiency Syndrome and Human Immunodeficiency Virus -- which
\ncauses the as yet incurable disease.<\/p>\n
Ulemas have outright rejected what they call \"condomization\",
\nsaying it was tantamount to promoting promiscuity.<\/p>\n
Sarlito, who has been campaigning for sex education for
\nteenagers since the 1980s, said religious teaching could only be
\napplied to devout followers.<\/p>\n
\"Now there are many preteens who sleep with middle-aged men,\"
\nhe said. \"To the students who are already (morally) 'upright',
\nreligion is effective ... as a preventive measure.<\/p>\n
\"But girls who have engaged (in premarital sex), we absolutely
\ncannot approach them through religion,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sarlito, dean of the University of Indonesia's School of
\nPsychology, acknowledged that Indonesia found it difficult to
\nincorporate sex education in the school curriculum, given the
\ndifferences in values among ethnic groups.<\/p>\n
He suggested that lessons on safe sex be included in the
\nschool's extracurricular activities instead.<\/p>\n
Sarlito led a discussion on AIDS which was held Saturday by
\nthe Ministry of Education and Culture to commemorate
\nInternational AIDS Day.<\/p>\n
This year, the world-wide event is titled Children Living in a
\nWorld with AIDS.<\/p>\n
An expert from the Ministry of Health, Dr. Broto Wasisto, said
\nduring his presentation at Saturday's symposium that changing
\npeople's sexual behavior through education could prevent HIV\/AIDS
\ninfection among people, particularly teenagers.<\/p>\n
Broto, who is chairman of the National Commission on AIDS
\nPrevention's working group, cited how anti-AIDS campaigns in U.S.
\nschools did not reduce the number of students having unsafe sex.<\/p>\n
\"The use of condoms increased when sex education and the
\ncampaign were followed by discussions on the impact of unsafe
\nsexual relationships, including pregnancy and venereal diseases,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The first reported AIDS case in Indonesia was in Bali in 1987.<\/p>\n
According to last month's health ministry statistics, 599
\npeople have been infected with HIV and 152 of them have full-
\nblown AIDS.<\/p>\n
Of the 599 cases, 528 people (88 percent) are aged between 15
\nand 49 and 499 (83 percent) were infected through sexual contact.
\n(09)<\/p>",
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