Alarming rise in number of HIV carriers

JAKARTA (JP): The number of those infected with HIV has shown an alarming increase this year, with the total number of new sufferers in the first five months of 2000 nearly equal to last year's 12-month total.

Ministry of Health officials have revealed that there were 214 new cases of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) up to the end of May.

The total number of those infected in 1999 was 225.

This brings the total number of HIV carriers in the country to 1,257.

But observers have suggested that this number is just the tip of the iceberg. UNAIDS has said the number may reach as many as 52,000.

The cause of the alarming increase, however, continues to be a point of controversy among officials and AIDS activists.

Government officials maintain that 80 percent of the new cases were caused by sexual contact, while activists claim that the significant rise is due to an increase in the number of drug addicts and the sharing of needles of Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs).

The Harapan Permata Hati Kita Foundation, a Bogor-based center for addiction treatment and recovery noted the increasing rate of drug users who are now infected with the deadly virus.

"About 12.5 percent of the 100 addicts we tested were HIV positive," said the organization's program co-director, Joyce Djaelani Gordon, here on Monday.

Data from the Drug Dependency Hospital (RSKO) in Fatmawati, South Jakarta, show that of the 8,170 patients there last year, about 47 percent were IDUs. Of these, some 10 percent were infected with HIV.

"That's only at RSKO. Say there are two million drug addicts in this country, as the Ministry of Health estimates. There could then be 30,000 infected with HIV due to IDUs alone," said M. Nasser, chairman of the Indonesian Healthy Lifestyle Movement (LAHSI).

Joyce Djaelani Gordon believes that the rate at which HIV spreads due to IDUs could be more alarming than that of sexual relations.

The problem will be further highlighted during the second National Conference on HIV/AIDS here from July 17 to July 20 at Hotel Golden.

Some 134 speakers are due to speak.

"Through this event, hopefully we can find a strategy to cope with the problems," said Nasser. (09)