Anti-AIDS drive must include religious leaders

JAKARTA (JP): The anti-AIDS campaigns in predominantly-Moslem Indonesia should involve religious leaders, a World Health Organization (WHO) official suggested.

Dr. Michael H. Merson, director of WHO's Global Program on AIDS, said here yesterday that the success of some countries in their efforts to control the spread of the disease rested with the mobilization of all resources, including giving religious leaders a role.

Speaking to the press after talks with Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas and Minister of Health Sujudi here, Merson said that although the AIDS epidemic in Indonesia is still at an early stage, the potential for explosion is enormous.

He added that anti-AIDS campaigners could learn from Indonesia's success in family planning, which also relied heavily on religious leaders to disseminate information at the local level.

"Indonesia has a small window of opportunity to fight AIDS before the epidemic spreads further," Merson said. "We have to use that opportunity wisely."

In an effort to wage a unified campaign against the spread of the deadly disease, President Soeharto last month set up an inter-ministerial commission to coordinate the campaigns.

Involving at least nine ministers, the commission will stress prevention and the dissemination of information, particularly at the local level.

In May the government announced 263 confirmed HIV cases among Indonesia's 185 million people, but several ministers and health officials believe the figure could be 200 times higher.

Earlier, officials had said the country probably already had some 20,000 HIV-positive victims at the end of last year, and predicted that 500,000 people may be infected by 1995.

Anticipating such an increase, the government said last year it would step up testing for HIV, especially among people in high-risk groups such as prostitutes and homosexuals.

Merson, who is here to offer WHO technical assistance, pledged that his organization will rally donor countries and agencies to provide financial assistance for the anti-AIDS campaign.

He said he had met with representatives from donor agencies from Japan, the United States, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Germany and other members of the European Community. All of them have agreed to extend the necessary help to Indonesia, he said.

"The key support, however, must come from your own government," said Merson, who was accompanied by WHO Representative in Indonesia Robert Kim Farley.

Over the past five years, WHO has injected some US$3 million into Indonesia's anti-AIDS campaign.

As the world's fifth most populous country whose economy is growing rapidly, Indonesia poses a special concern for the international body, especially regarding its human resource development plan.

"This disease attacks young people who are at their most productive age," Merson said, adding that the economic cost of the disease in Thailand alone would reach US$11 billion by the year 2,000.

Merson identified Thailand, India, Myanmar, Laos and China as countries beset by the rapid growth of their sex industries.

"AIDS is basically a sexually transmitted disease... so the perfect recipe for the campaigns against it to succeed is to fight against high-risk sexual behavior through education," he said.

Almost four million people are estimated to have AIDS worldwide, compared to 2.5 million in July 1993, incorporating an eight-fold increase in Asia from some 30,000 to 250,000.

The latest report by WHO's Global Program on the disease estimated that by the end of the decade 10 million people in Asia will be infected by HIV, which leads to the incurable AIDS.

The report also estimated that 16 million adults and one million children have been infected by HIV to date. It also predicted that by the end of the decade, the current global total will stand between 30 million and 40 million people. (swe)