Government AIDS figures not realistic, says official

JAKARTA (JP): A health official has admitted that government figures on the number of people with AIDS/HIV did not reflect the reality due to difficulties in obtaining data.

For instance, this month's figure says a total of 706 people have been infected, but this includes four who were diagnosed in July, 77 Thai fishermen reported in Irian Jaya but have returned to their country, and 100 people who have died.

The total of 706 is an accumulated figure from 1987 to July this year. The monthly increase in the number of people with AIDS/HIV is routinely submitted in an official report to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is also used as the basis on which the government plans its anti-AIDS campaign.

Sigit Priohutomo of the directorate of contagious diseases control and environmental health at the Ministry of Health said here yesterday that many cases of AIDS/HIV went undetected because of poor data gathering methods.

"We realize that we have poor data collection at the provincial level of the Ministry of Health and at local clinics and surgeries," he told The Jakarta Post.

All doctors and clinics are obliged to report any HIV/AIDS cases to the provincial health office. The office is then meant to investigate whether the cases are really AIDS/HIV or other illnesses.

However, not all provincial health offices have adequate equipment and skilled personnel to carry out the tasks, Sigit added.

Another obstacle is that doctors often fail to report new cases because they feel bound by doctor-patient confidentiality, Sigit said. He added doctors were sometimes reluctant to report severe cases of AIDS because the patients were dying anyway.

Many experts and activists campaigning against the spread of the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have often said that the actual number of people with the conditions could be 100 times higher than the official figures.

Activists at the Pelita Ilmu Foundation estimate that the number of people with AIDS/HIV exceeded 20,000.

Retno Windrati of Pelita Ilmu said the stigma attached to the illness was the reason why many people with AIDS chose to hide their condition.

"It's so easy for people to blame them and think that they got the disease because of their own actions," he said.

Samsuridjal Djauzi of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital believed that the figure of people living with AIDS/HIV could already be 100,000 and that more people were under threat of developing the conditions.

He said it was understandable that the government could provide only limited or even inaccurate data as it was "safer" to do so.

"AIDS/HIV are very expensive illnesses and if we only have a small number of cases then we'll have to spend less (on treatment)."

"I'm sure it's not a deliberate act, but we'll learn to improve the research methods while (the government) tries to get more funds," he said.

Samsuridjal said that with the U.S. dollar at Rp 8,000, a person with HIV would need to spend Rp 6 million a month on prescriptions to prevent the virus from developing into more serious illnesses. (emf)