Bangkok's grim reminder

When did Indonesians last hear about the global HIV/AIDS epidemic? After the initial fright, came a hush that lulled many among us into a state of complacency. Then came wishful thinking, as in the minds of many Indonesians AIDS is something that happens elsewhere. Indonesians may believe that they are being spared the ravaging effects of the epidemic. After all, AIDS figures published in the media have so far been on the low side, unlike those in several other Asian countries and, especially, in Africa.

Now, however, proof has come from the just-concluded 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok to debunk the old truism that silence is golden. HIV and AIDS can happen anywhere, to anyone careless enough to fail to take the proper precautions where carefulness is imperative -- such as in sexual relations or injecting drug use. Silence and ignorance can certainly contribute to the growth of the epidemic.

According to a report released this week by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), more than 10 million people in the Asia-Pacific region could be infected with HIV by the end of the decade, unless prompt action is taken -- a hefty addition to the approximately 7 million people in those regions estimated to be already infected. The economic cost that such an addition would involve could be as high as US$17.5 billion a year.

While the number of people with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia may be considered relatively low, at about 120,000 according to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is no reason for unjustified complacency. According to UNAIDS, the number of people with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia grew by 3,924 from 1987 to 2003. Of those 2,685 were HIV-positive and 1,413 had developed full-blown AIDS. Of course, these figures probably do not represent the total number of cases. The real figures are not easy to come by or to estimate, mainly because of widespread ignorance among the populace that exists about the disease.

Obviously, initiating a fitting program of education to change people's attitudes toward the disease, combined with encouraging a greater sense of realism in the community and among its leaders, is one of the most important prerequisites for success. As Jusuf Kalla, a vice presidential candidate and former coordinating minister for people's welfare, so aptly put it: "There is nothing wrong for religious and community leaders to urge the use of condoms among people unafraid of sinning by engaging in extramarital sex."

Obviously, with women making up nearly half of all people in the Asia-Pacific region infected with HIV, greater emphasis should also be given to this particular segment of our society, including eliminating gender bias wherever it exists. In this same context, the government's efforts to make generic antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) available to HIV/AIDS patients deserve to be lauded. However, the Rp 200,000 per person subsidies that are to be allocated through 25 designated hospitals seem hardly enough.

While under current economic and political circumstances it is difficult to hope that all those needs can be provided for, it is certainly not too much to hope that a fitting solution can be found to take on the HIV/AIDS epidemic with all the means that are available, and without delay.