Anti-AIDS drive must include religious leaders

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)