AIDS meeting targets truck, bus drivers

AIDS meeting targets truck, bus drivers

JAKARTA (JP): Twenty inter-city truck and bus drivers are
participating in a three-day meeting on HIV/AIDS here beginning
yesterday.

Jointly sponsored by the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef)
and Organda, the country's organization of land transportation
owners, the meeting is designed to give basic knowledge of the
condition to the drivers, which are believed to be vulnerable to
the syndrome, said organizer chairman Dadan Irawan.

But the meeting would also focus on getting information from
the drivers to know what they faced daily on the road, said
Dadan.

"It's an informal meeting. We'll base it on discussion because
if the training is in the form of lecture it would be
ineffective," he told The Jakarta Post during a break in the
meeting.

According to Dadan, the 20 participants are the first group of
400 drivers to join the weekly meeting.

"They are being trained to hopefully become peer educators on
coping with HIV and AIDS," he said.

The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by
the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which is mostly spread
through unprotected sex or from sharing needles or syringes.

The 400 drivers would be divided into two equal groups.

The first group for drivers in Jakarta, Lampung and West Java
would have their meetings at the mountainous resort of Puncak,
south of here. The meetings for the second group, designed for
drivers in Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and Bali would be
held in the East Java capital of Surabaya.

After the opening ceremony here, the 20 participants will be
driven to Puncak to continue the course.

According to Dadan, drivers of inter-city buses and trucks
were susceptible from the spread of AIDS.

Referring to research conducted last year by the University of
Indonesia, 90 percent of long distance drivers had sex with
different partners during their journey.

Only 18 percent of them used condoms, it was noted.

Yesterday's opening ceremony was inaugurated by chairman of
the research and development agency of the Ministry of
Transportation, Soebagijo Soemodihardjo, on behalf of Minister
Haryanto Dhanutirto.

In a written statement read by Soebagijo, the minister said
that people working in the transportation sector were potentially
at risk from the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"It is caused by the tendency that long distance truck and bus
drivers need time to rest and relax, which is often used to
fulfill their sexual desires. That's why Organda is here to guide
them to avoid HIV/AIDS," he said.

One of the meeting's participants, Adang, said he strongly
supported the program.

"I know that some of my friends have had sex with multiple
partners. It's understandable because they have a long journey
which is away from their family. That's why they need 'comfort',"
he told the Post.

Besides holding the meeting, Organda also distributed 600,000
cassettes of dangdut songs, containing messages on HIV/AIDS, to
drivers and thousands of pamphlets and leaflets to be put on
their vehicles.

Official figures indicate that 590 people are reportedly AIDS
or HIV positive in Indonesia as of last month.

However, many experts believe the true number is several times
higher. (05)