Commission formed to curb AIDS spread
JAKARTA (JP): Alarmed by the mounting AIDS problem, the government has formed a commission in charge of checking the spread of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes the deadly disease, officials announced yesterday.
President Soeharto has assigned Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas to lead the commission, which will handle the AIDS problem nationally.
The commission, whose membership includes the Minister of Health, Minister of Social Services, Minister of Population and Minister of Religious Affairs, will formulate an action plan to combat AIDS, Azwar told reporters.
Official figures show that, as of April this year, the number of people reported to have been infected with HIV in Indonesia had reached 213. However, officials acknowledge that the actual number could be 200 times higher.
Azwar, who met with President Soeharto to discuss the new policy yesterday, said that if HIV spreads at the current rate, approximately 300,000 Indonesians will have acquired the virus by the year 2000.
"By then, Indonesia will have to spend US$2 billion a year to bring the disease under control if preventive measures are not taken now," he said.
Quoting a report on a recent AIDS study in Southeast Asia by a U.S. government agency, he said the disease is spreading at an alarming rate in this region.
"The report warns that AIDS is a pressing problem in the region and that the soaring income per capita will be threatened if AIDS is not brought under control," he said.
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are planning to embark on a joint war against the growing AIDS problem through a regional program with funding from Western countries and Japan.
The plan was elaborated on in the second ASEAN Task Force on AIDS meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week. A five-year program will adopt a common strategy to fight the disease, promote exchange of information and encourage closer cooperation with non- governmental organizations.
Member countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand -- have been formulating common strategies to fight the incurable disease.
The World Health Organization has warned that the number of Asians infected with HIV will jump from more than two million this year to over 10 million by the year 2000.
Azwar said prostitutes and intercity truck drivers will receive special attention in future anti-AIDS campaigns because they are believed to be key transmitters of the disease.
"Large-scale information campaigns will be aimed at these target groups," he said.
He said when truck drivers leave home for a few days, they habitually visit brothels and pass on sexually transmitted diseases to others, including their wives.
The information campaigns will involve religious leaders, informal community figures and activists of the Family Welfare Movement (PKK), he said. (pan)