Condoms on the menu: A fight against AIDS

Condoms on the menu: A fight against AIDS

By Emma Cameron

JAKARTA (JP): Next time you stay at the Shangri-la Hotel in
Surabaya and you're feeling a bit peckish why not order a condom
through room service.

The recognition that human appetites do not stop at food and
drink has made the Shangri-la Hotel the only hotel to win one of
eight AIDS Awards for 1999.

The Awards, currently in their third year are sponsored by the
Kusuma Buana Foundation, UNAIDS and Apindo. The Awards give
recognition to companies that work to promote AIDS awareness to
their workers and the wider community. The targeting of companies
as recipients of the awards is deliberate, given that almost 80
percent of HIV/AIDS cases occur in the productive 20 to 49 year
age group.

Director for Health Care at the Kusuma Buana Foundation, Adi
Sasongko, believes that the AIDS epidemic, if not stopped at this
early stage in Indonesia, will destroy the already fragile
economy.

"Our geographical situation makes us different to India and
Thailand (who contained a growing AIDS threat) ... and our ethnic
groupings will make it impossible for us to survive."

The current number of registered AIDS/HIV cases in Indonesia
is 1014, with five more cases of AIDS and four more cases of HIV
recorded in November.

The prevalence of AIDS among this productive age group has
been put down to the 3M phenomenon (Mobile Man with Money), which
makes hotels an ideal place to spread the message of safe sex.

The idea was initiated by the General Manager of the Shangri-
la Surabaya, Peter Carmichael, in 1998. As well as providing
condoms through room service, posters and current information on
HIV/AIDS have been displayed and information days on sexually
transmitted diseases, human reproduction, behavior change and
public awareness are held once every three months with experts in
the field.

The training sessions for staff have proved a success with
some sessions over the two days extending from their scheduled
three hours to five hours.

Novia Herdiana, a representative for Shangri-la Surabaya, is
proud of the award and adamant about the importance of AIDS
awareness, especially among hotels. "We have to have this kind of
thing, all our guests are coming from other countries. We don't
know who they are," she said.

Care was taken to remain inoffensive with their awareness
campaign however, with condoms placed on the menu rather than
directly in the room. With bibles in each room, Shangri-la feels
they are sensitive to the needs of all.

Novia did not feel that providing condoms would offend
religious guests "I'm also Muslim. I mean, come on, you provide
condoms. What does that mean, you also provide women?"

Not all companies are willing to risk their reputation
however. Sasongko often faces difficulties in convincing
companies to host AIDS awareness campaigns with managers thinking
if they do then their customers might suspect there are HIV/AIDS
carriers in the company. Managers also choose to turn a blind
eye, believing religious convictions will be enough to prevent
promiscuity and AIDS.

"I talked to one manager in one company in Bogor who said 'my
people are good people, they perform religious acts. They don't
need it'," Sasongko said.

Freeport Indonesia in Timika, Irian Jaya, was another company
to receive the award this year -- the only mining company to
receive the honor.

The program was developed as part of the public health and
malaria control department and was included for fairly obvious
reasons. "There are quite a number of single men working in the
mine, we have to give them information to be more careful in
their out of work activities," said Siddhartha Moersjid, a public
relations manager at the company.

With the majority of the 6000 workers in Irian Jaya being
single males, sex workers are abundant in the area. The campaign
was largely carried out through the distribution of a comic type
booklet that told the miners the effects of AIDS and how they
could be avoided.

The current criteria for the award is to provide ongoing AIDS
awareness services with awards going to different companies each
year. However with the participation of UNAIDS this year, the
plan is for the award to be ongoing so that companies who
continue their awareness programs will be eligible every year.

What the awards sponsors hope for now is for the works that
these companies do to be enshrined in policy. There are plans to
give a gold medal award to those companies who not only
consistently provide information to their workers on HIV/AIDS but
state a commitment to the program in their formal policy.

A large number of the award recipients are also foreign
investors currently working for local contractors, such as
previous years winners Nike and Levi Strauss.

A commitment to health issues from local companies has
increased with the easing of the economic crisis. Companies with
skilled workers are also more willing to invest in their workers
long-term future.

"The companies with unskilled workers response is not very
good. If they have problems they just fire them and they have
hundreds of people lining up to take their place," Sasongko said.

The six other award recipients for 1999 were Citra Abadi
Sejati in Cileungsi, West Java (garment manufacturer), Eratex
Djaja in Probolinggo, East Java (garments and textiles), Freshtex
Garment in Karawang, West Java (finishing and laundry for jeans),
Masterindo Jaya Abadi in Bandung, West Java (garments), Nutrifood
in Kawasan Industri Pulogadung, Jakarta (food) and Wearwel
International in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta (garments).