Fight against HIV/AIDS must focus on young people

Fight against HIV/AIDS must focus on young people

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

As young people represent the largest percentage on the HIV
infection charts, an activist says shifting the focus to youth in
the fight against HIV/AIDS was inevitable.

Indonesia, as warned by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), is on the brink of an AIDS epidemic, with infection
rates running high.

The estimation of people in the country living with HIV/AIDS
is between 90,000 to 130,000, although some local experts
put the figure at between 180,000 to 250,000 people.

Activist Joyce Djaelani Gordon said that this year, over half
of the new cases in the world, including in Indonesia, were
within the age group of 15 to 24 years old.

The main cause of infection is injecting drug use (IDUs), with
at least 600,000 IDUs throughout the country, half of whom are
believed to be HIV-positive, according to government data.

"While 60 percent of the infected young people are men, women
are especially at risk. Even if they're not involved in drug use
or abuse themselves, they are often sexually involved with men
who used drugs," Joyce said on Tuesday.

More alarming, she said, were the findings of a recent study
carried out by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in
which 84 percent of 1,034 respondents aged from 14 to 17 said
they did not know much about HIV/AIDS, and a whopping 73 percent
were unable to explain what a condom was.

"This is very worrying. We have to do something to reduce the
infection rate. At the very least, 90 percent of young people
must have access to information," Joyce said.

She urged the government to immediately insert information on
HIV/AIDS in school curricula.

"Go to schools. And then find out what young people like. MTV?
Then, can we make programs with them? Or perhaps TV soaps, films.
In Bali, there has been a program called students care about
AIDS. Other regions should start as well.

"We must also train people close to young people, like
teachers, street children's mentors, religious leaders and so
on," Joyce said.

She said that HIV had been around for 18 years, but still many
people were uniformed about the virus.

"There are indeed hospitals with program against HIV/AIDS, but
not all of our hospitals. And not all of the medical staff in
those hospitals are fully trained. If they are trained, people
are yet to be informed. So, the communication is not thorough,"
she said.

Meanwhile, Syamsuridjal Djauzi, an internist at Cipto
Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Jakarta, said that while
prevention was essential, the emphasis should be on care, support
and treatment.

"We're racing against time. We have to catch up, and speed up
the care, support and treatment as the infection rate is high,"
said Syamsuridjal, who is also an AIDS activist.

Comprehensive health services need to be available in many
places, he said, not just areas with high infection rates.

"Most of the services are in big cities. There are only 25
hospitals in the country that provide antiretrovirals (ARV). So,
people living with HIV/AIDS in small cities must go to the
provincial capital to get treatment," he said.