Baby with HIV draws public sympathy
JAKARTA (JP): Recent reports about an unidentified baby who contracted Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from its mother tugged at laypeople's heartstrings.
Several people interviewed by The Jakarta Post expressed sympathy and concern about the first baby to be registered as HIV victim last month.
A book shop attendant at the Senen shopping center in Central Jakarta said he never heard about HIV-positive baby before. "I know about AIDS... it has no cure, but I don't know that a baby can get it too," Priyanto said.
He said he pitied the helpless baby. "The baby can't help itself. It's fortunate that there's only one HIV baby."
The baby was one of the 11 people added to the government's list of people with HIV or Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which now stands at 449.
Sukiryono, a taxi driver, blamed prostitution for the increasing number of people with AIDS, and for the infection of the baby.
"People can't blame the baby for contracting the disease... it's a pity it can't enjoy it's life longer," said Sukiryono who has four grown-ups children.
"People need more religious teachings to help them stay in the right path," he added.
Dewi Handayani, a student of a private university in Central Jakarta said she did not know much about AIDS, but still pitied the baby.
"I don't know much about the disease, but I know it's a deathly syndrome. It's a pity a baby has to suffer. It can't protect itself," Dewi said.
Suhartini, a mother of two children and lives in Cempaka Putih area, Central Jakarta, said she knows about AIDS from television.
"It's adults who should protect themselves from the disease so that it does not infect their children," Suhartini said. "In this case, it's the adults who should be blamed."
Suhartini said she would never ostracize people with HIV or AIDS, whether babies or adults, should they are found to live in her own neighborhood.
"The television and newspapers said AIDS does not infect people easily. I don't think there's (great danger of being infected) if I live around people with HIV or AIDS," she said.
People with AIDS is the same with any other people who deserve to be treated well. "My religion teaches me that people should help one another," Suhartini said.
Dewi Handayani said she wouldn't know how to treat people with HIV or AIDS. "What if I made mistakes?" she asked.
Officials have recorded five babies as having born from mothers with HIV, the most recent one was born in the Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, Bali, in August.
The other babies are from Bojonegoro and Malang in East Java, from Jayapura in Irian Jaya and from Jakarta. None of the five babies had previously been reported as contracting HIV.
Officials refused to reveal whether the baby who was tested HIV positive was from among the five babies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that until January this year there were 5.5 million HIV-positive children in the world: 2.3 million of them have developed AIDS. (ste)