Govt, NGOs agree to combat rampant intravenous drug use

Govt, NGOs agree to combat rampant intravenous drug use

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government, legislators, doctors, the police and non-
governmental organizations have agreed to take comprehensive
measures to curb rising intravenous drug use (IDU) among
Indonesians, which is believed responsible for more than 70
percent of all HIV infections in the country.

They said a variety of intervention programs, an educational
and information campaign, a social support system, law
enforcement and access to treatment and life-saving drugs were
viable strategies to address the problem.

Samsuridjal Djauzi, a member of the Working Group on AIDS at
the University of Indonesia, said health services could help
intravenous drug users (IDUs) receive information and treatment
to overcome their addiction.

"They will be willing to take voluntarily counseling tests
(VCTs) and medication if community health centers (Puskesmas)
provide information about medicine that is affordable and
effective," he said.

A pilot project run by the Pelita Ilmu Foundation in Kampung
Bali district, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, has found that in
the past two years some 438 drugs addicts have came to community
health centers for help. Most of them were unemployed people
between the ages of 21 and 25.

Some 89 of 97 addicts who took VCTs were found to be HIV
positive, and seven of these people died of AIDS-related diseases
this year. Most of the 89 had been using drugs for four or five
years and 77 percent of them shared syringes.

"We can save or maybe prolong their lives if we put in place
effective and quick interventions. I admit that we denied three
years ago that the prevalence of HIV among IDUs was high. Now we
should start to say that we are in an emergency situation,"
Samsuridjal said.

In its latest report, the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) said there were between 124,000 and 196,000 IDUs in
Indonesia, of which some 43,000 were infected with HIV.

Usep Solehudin, manager of the Pelita Ilmu Foundation's
community-based drug rehabilitation program, said that to promote
harm reduction among IDUs the health workers taught them to
bleach their syringes, to use oral drugs instead of intravenous
drugs and to use condoms.

Samsuridjal said that giving job opportunities to recovering
addicts would also help them stay away from drugs. So some
addicts are given small-scale business training.

Wasilah Sutrisno, chairman of Jakarta Legislative Council's
Commission E for health and education, said she would promote
these programs among the 265 community health centers in
Jakarta's subdistricts, and would propose funding in the
provincial health budget for HIV/AIDS programs.

Achmad Sanusi Tambunan, deputy chairman of House of
Representatives Commission VII for population and social welfare,
said the House would draft articles outlining the punishment for
security officers involved in the drug trade. The articles will
be included in the amendments to laws No. 22/1997 and 5/1997 on
narcotics and psychotropics.

"We will also include articles to control tobacco use because
many young people move on to harder drugs after they start
smoking," he said

Haikin Rachmat, director of communicable disease control at
the Ministry of Health, said some funding for HIV/AIDS programs
would be included in the ministry's budget next year, and each
year some 100 poor people infected with the virus would receive
subsidized life-saving drugs.