Bekasi to open HIV clinics

Bekasi to open HIV clinics

Wahyuana, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi

The Bekasi administration will open a free HIV/AIDS clinic at the
Bekasi General Hospital and the private Ananda Hospital next
month.

The clinic will provide a free voluntary consultancy test and
counseling, head of the communicable diseases prevention unit at
the Bekasi Health Agency, Krisna Dewayanti said.

"This program aims to anticipate the increasing number of
Bekasi residents exposed to HIV," she told The Jakarta Post over
the weekend.

She said that based on data collected over the last six years,
there are 89 Bekasi residents living with AIDS, another 131 who
are HIV positive and 719 others at risk, mostly injected drug
users (IDUs).

"Most of the cases are the result of using unsterilized
needles or sharing needles among IDUs ... The counseling service
is needed to disseminate information about the dangers of sharing
needles, because few of them are aware of it," Krisna said.

Each clinic will get Rp 10 million per month for operational
costs financed by the international non-governmental organization
Global Fund.