Australia, RI sign anti-AIDS project
Australia, RI sign anti-AIDS project
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and Australia signed a memorandum of
understanding yesterday in relation to a A$20.2 million (US$15.3
million) AIDS-prevention and care project.
The memorandum, which also covers other sexually-transmitted
diseases, was signed by Australian Ambassador Allan Taylor and
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas in Jakarta.
Under the memorandum, the project will be financed by
contributions of A$17.8 million and A$2.4 million from the
Australian and Indonesian governments respectively.
Taylor said the project would support efforts to deal with the
disease in the provinces of Bali, East Nusa Tenggara and South
Sulawesi, as well as assisting the National Commission for the
Prevention of AIDS in Jakarta.
As of last month, the government had recorded a total of 346
cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 15 of Indonesia's
27 provinces.
Of the total, 82 have been full-blown AIDS sufferers, 50 of
whom have already died.
Some experts estimate that the real number of people with HIV
in Indonesia is more than 200 times the official figure.
Azwar said Australia had been effective in combating the
virus.
"We decided to work with Australia because its government has
considerable experience, as one of a few countries which have
successfully slowed the annual rate of new infections," he said.
Azwar, who chairs the national AIDS commission, said he hoped
the projects in the three provinces would become good models for
the anti-AIDS campaign across the country.
He added that an international meeting on AIDS in Yokohama,
Japan, last August had viewed Indonesia as "vulnerable" to the
spread of the virus.
Experts have predicted that, unless steps are taken to stop
the spread of the disease, 2.5 million people in Indonesia will
be infected with HIV in the year 2000, Anwar said. The annual
cost of treating those people will be US$16 billion, he added.
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