AIDS information drives require coordination

AIDS information drives require coordination

JAKARTA (JP): An executive of the Kusuma Buana Foundation
underlined yesterday the importance of coordination, among non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), in disseminating information
on the danger of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Joedo Prihartono of the Kusuma Buana Foundation said that
coordination in the cooperation mechanism of NGOs' activities is
badly needed to prevent an overlapping in the provision of
information on the dangers of AIDS.

Joedo made the remarks in response to the rising number of
NGOs interested in providing services to prostitutes operating at
the Kramat Tunggak prostitute rehabilitation center in North
Jakarta.

He said that on the one hand the many NGOs interested in the
services is welcome, but on the other hand their activities, if
not coordinated carefully, will be weak, between one and the
other.

"Therefore, it is time now to have a suitable mechanism for
such a coordination," Joedo said.

The Kusuma Buana Foundation, established in 1983, was
originally formed as a service to mothers and children in health
issues. It began being interested in AIDS in 1993 when its
research showed that 29.6 percent of the women who came to its
six clinics had sexually related diseases.

The foundation realizes that Kramat Tunggak is one of the
places which is at risk to the virus because it is near Tanjung
Priok port and a great number of both local and foreign sailors
frequent the district.

The foundation started informing prostitutes on the dangers of
AIDS in early 1994, motivating them to offer condoms to their
clients.

Kramat Tunggak is located in North Jakarta and was built by
the city administration in 1970 to put prostitutes from around
Tanjung Priok port into one complex.

The 11-hectare complex consists of 270 buildings, which can
accommodate 2,300 prostitutes. At this time there are about 2,000
prostitutes operating there.

Joedo said that his foundation is currently exploring the
possibility of cooperating with Mitra Indonesia and the Pelita
Ilmu Foundation in the provision of canceling and more advanced
education for prostitutes in Kramat Tunggak.

"The Kusuma Buana Foundation is also preparing another
cooperation project with the Atmajaya Research Center to provide
information to medicine sellers around the Kramat Tunggak area,"
he said.

Joedo also said that cases of both AIDS and the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Indonesia are increasing. The
number of HIV carriers is reported to have reached 305 at
present, but their real number could possibly jumps to 175,000
people, he said, warning that the increase may continue in the
future.

He said information on prostitutes, the highest at risk group,
about AIDS is still very limited. "Almost all of them consider
themselves to be free of the disease. This ignorance is feared to
lead to the rejection of the application of safer sex, such as
the use of condoms," he said. (32/hhr)