Government set to intensify anti-AIDS drive
Government set to intensify anti-AIDS drive
JAKARTA (JP): The government is determined to intensify AIDS-
awareness campaigns and has urged citizens to support their
family members with AIDS.
Minister of Health Sujudi, after closing the national
coordination meeting in Ciloto, West Java, told reporters on
Friday that the officials agreed to pinpoint a family approach as
one of the strategies to prevent the spread of the Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
"A campaign will be initiated to introduce to the public the
eight roles of the family," he said.
The campaign will primarily consist of religious,
reproductive, protective, economic and cultural roles, as well as
the family's function in providing care and socialization.
He said the government would encourage an atmosphere of
openness in families affected by AIDS and tolerance for the rest
of the community.
"Through the campaigns, we hope to instill a sense of
independence and security in families with HIV members," Sujudi
assured.
The treatment for AIDS patients in developing countries costs
between US$1,400 and $2,500 and about $30,000 in developed
countries.
In Indonesia alone, 266 people have tested positive for HIV
but the actual number of the HIV-infected people may exceed
100,000.
Most of the cases were found in Jakarta and Irian Jaya and
from the total number, 85 percent were infected through sexual
contact. The others were infected through contaminated syringes
and blood transfusions.
Sujudi said that the ministry has already published and
distributed guidebooks explaining how best to cope with the AIDS
problem.
"The guidebooks have been distributed to community health
centers across the country... and people should have received
them. If they haven't, then the books must have gotten stuck
somewhere," he said.
According to recent reports, residents of a small town in East
Java rejected one of their neighbors who had HIV. The woman, a
former prostitute who worked in another town, was isolated upon
returning to her hometown.
Similar cases have also occurred in other parts of the
country.
In another development, Sujudi said that the three-day meeting
also plans to provide scholarships for doctors to take up courses
in specialization, something the country desperately needs.
Based on the contract, a doctor who has completed his or her
three-year period of compulsory service would be entitled to a
specialization scholarship.
"After they have specialized, they must then serve in a
hospital either for two years in a remote part of the country,
three years outside of Java or five years in Java. The government
will determine this," Sujudi explained.
He added that the amount of the scholarship would be around Rp
6 million per student per year.(pwn)