60 percent of injecting drug users have HIV: Official

60 percent of injecting drug users have HIV: Official

Ahmad Junaidi
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The allegation that injecting drug users (IDUs) are prone to
Human Imunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is proven here as the latest
survey conducted by the city health agency showed that 60 percent
of them were thus infected.

"The infection occurred as most of the drug users shared
needles. Most of them took heroine or morphine," agency head A.
Cholik Masulili said at City Hall.

Without stating the number of respondents, he said a survey
was carried out last December of drug users in the city's five
mayoralties, especially the "drug triangles".

The triangles are infamous for drug trafficking and junkies,
and are Jl. Baturaja in Kebon Melati subdistrict, the Kampung
Bali area and Jl. Jaksa in Kebon Sirih subdistrict -- all in
Central Jakarta.

Kebon Melati and Kampung Bali are slum areas in Tanah Abang
while Jl. Jaksa is popular with backpackers for its cheap hotels.

Cholik said that the respondents involved in the survey were
drug users from nine years to 29 years of age.

"The child was an elementary school student who did not
inject," he said, declining to mention the name of the school or
the area where the respondent lived.

He said most of the drug users, aged from 20 to 24, were
school dropouts and faced problems at home.

Separately, activist Baby Jim Aditya said that surveys carried
out by nongovernmental organizations found that 60 percent to 80
percent of IDUs were infected with HIV.

"This is very saddening," Baby told The Jakarta Post.

According to her website, babyjimaditya.com, there were 114
new HIV cases in Jakarta from January through March this year.
Eleven percent of them were infected through injecting.

It was reported that there were 213 HIV cases found in Jakarta
from October through December last year, 19 percent of them IDUs.

Baby claimed the real number of HIV patients could be 100
times greater if the "iceberg analogy" were used.

Jakarta Health Agency revealed earlier that 22 percent of 200
prisoners who took HIV/AIDS tests at Salemba Penitentiary in
Central Jakarta had tested positive.

Cholik said that besides practicing unsafe sex, many of the
prisoners were drug users, who had become infected with HIV
through injecting.

Deeply concerned at the seriousness of the drug issue here,
about 1,000 Jakarta residents, including Muslim leaders, police,
city officials, celebrities and students, launched an antidrug
campaign at the National Monument park on Sunday.