Ceremonies finish AIDS campaign
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
White drifts of campaign materials with slogans like "No drugs, No AIDS, No cry" and "We are women concerned with our reproductive health" littered the entrance to the Indoor Tennis Stadium in Central Jakarta on Sunday.
The garbage was dumped by the participants of the AIDS Walk 2004 before they entered the Bung Karno Sports Complex to watch entertainers including Shanty, Andre Hehanusa and pop diva Krisdayanti.
As Shanty ended her two songs with some advice on safe sexual behavior to the high school student audience, hundreds of visitors browsed through dozens of stalls at the AIDS Bazaar.
The stalls included one from an international bank offering credit cards and another from a condom producer.
"This Sunday's event is the peak of a series of events to commemorate World's AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The Indonesian AIDS Foundation (YAI)'s campaign this year is targeting young people aged between 15 and 20," spokeswoman Franciska R. Tambunan told The Jakarta Post.
She said YAI remained committed to raising public awareness about HIV/AIDS.
"This year, the international theme for World AIDS Day is focused on women and girls who, according to the data, are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS," she said.
She estimated about 5,000 people joined the AIDS Walk from Senayan to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and back along Jl. Gatot Subroto to the stadium.
"Officials from nine embassies from countries like Greece, Pakistan, South Africa, Singapore, China and Croatia, marched with us," Tambunan said.
Sunday's event was officially opened by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who was accompanied by Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari, State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Hatta and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nurwahid.
"AIDS in Indonesia is an urgent matter because of its fast growth rate. The number of the case we have here is still below that in Thailand, the rate is higher," Kalla said.
He said the government had provided enough HIV/AIDS medicine for about 10,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.
As of September this year, government data showed that at least 2,337 Indonesians were known to have contracted HIV and at least 2,363 had AIDS.
However, most health experts believe the official data is only the tip of the iceberg. Continuing suspicion and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS also helped hamper surveyors' efforts to find an accurate estimates of the infected, they said.
Unless publicity campaigns were followed up with government action and serious financial support, they said pledges from politicians would remain as lightweight as the HIV/AIDS campaign litter fluttering in the breeze.