AIDS awareness campaign planned

JAKARTA: The government will cooperate with non-governmental organizations to launch a nationwide campaign against HIV/AIDS as the number of people with the deadly virus has reached an alarming level, health minister Achmad Suyudi said on Thursday.

According to ministry data, 1,904 Indonesians have tested positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), while 671 people have tested positive for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), half of whom have died.

Suyudi said that the figures were derived from people having themselves tested, while the actual number of people with HIV could range between 80,000 and 120,000, most notably in Papua, Riau, West Java and Bali.

More public involvement is expected after the national campaign, which Suyudi estimates will cost around Rp 200 billion a year, including medical assistance for those infected.

The technicalities of the campaign have still to be discussed, such as the issuance of government regulations, fund-raising, as well as obtaining the required medicines for those infected with HIV.--JP