Experts say 12,000 die yearly of AIDS

Experts say 12,000 die yearly of AIDS

JAKARTA (JP): A research group from the University of
Indonesia predicted yesterday that between 12,000 and 31,000
people are already dying in Indonesia every year due to the
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

The estimate, published in a report by the Center for Health
Research, contrasts sharply with the official statistics on AIDS
and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

The Ministry of Health said that up to September, 449 people
either had AIDS or were HIV-positive, 66 of them had died.

Director of the Center for Health Research Meiwita B.
Iskandar, said the government only gives figures for reported
cases.

The real figures are far higher because Indonesia does not
have an effective system for monitoring the real number of HIV
and AIDS cases, Meiwita said.

Government and international organizations have said the
number of people who have AIDS or were HIV-positive in Indonesia
was in the tens of thousands, but this is the first time anyone
has specifically reported death rates.

"There has been a low number of reported HIV-positive cases
because they are detected after they develop into AIDS," Meiwita
said.

"A surveillance system should detect it earlier," she said at
the Office of the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare.

The report, Analysis of the HIV/AIDS Situation and Its Impact
on Children, Women and Family in Indonesia, was published by the
University of Indonesia in cooperation with the United Nations
Children's Fund (Unicef). Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare's third assistant Suyono Yahya, and Unicef representative
Stephen J. Woodhouse were present at the launch of the report.

An even bigger concern than the HIV-related deaths is the fact
that by 2000, between 200,000 and 550,000 children will lose
their parents, Meiwita said.

Unfortunately, she said, it is the children, who will suffer
both physically and psychologically because of the syndrome.

Even children born before their parents contract the virus are
not immune from the impact, she said.

It is likely they will get inadequate nutrition, be forced to
leave their schools, be isolated and even ridiculed by the
community, and have to assume some parental responsibility, she
said.

"These orphans are not likely to grow up with a normal family
life and there is a possibility that they will become sexually
active much earlier, and contract sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV," Meiwita said.

The children, she said, need support from their families,
society and also the government.

Unfortunately, little attention has been given to women or
children who are vulnerable to the syndrome, she said.

She called for better coordination between policy makers and
the people who implement AIDS awareness policies.

She called for cooperation between government agencies and
non-governmental organizations, the private sector, educational
and religious institutions, to support the planning, funding, and
activities of the anti-AIDS campaign.

"HIV/AIDS is not a momentary crisis, something that can be
managed by immediate intervention. It requires long-term
intervention .. like the way the country managed the Family
Planning program," Meiwita said. (ste)