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.