Govt to supply drug users with sterile syringes

Govt to supply drug users with sterile syringes

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is planning to provide injecting drug users (IDUs)
with sterile syringes to contain the rapid spread of Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among them.

"People with HIV/AIDS are found mostly among IDUs, therefore
we need to prioritize prevention in this group by providing them
with sterile syringes," Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said on
Tuesday in a seminar themed: Strategy to cope with HIV/AIDS in
Indonesia.

As of September 2002, the number of people with HIV in
Indonesia was estimated at 110,000, of whom 43,000 were IDUs,
according to a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
report presented in a seminar in the House of Representatives
compound.

Sujudi said his ministry would campaign to reduce unsterile
syringe usage among IDUs and provide them with sterile syringes,
noting that such efforts would encounter legal and moral barriers
because according to the criminal law it would be considered
abetting the commission of a crime.

In Indonesia both drug dealers and drug users are considered
criminals by law.

"In the meantime, the ministry has had discussions with the
National Police about the possibility of supplying sterile
syringes to IDUs," he said.

"In this fight against HIV/AIDS all members of society must
unite to tackle the problem through moral, public health and
medical efforts," he said.

"Today there are about 110,000 people with HIV/AIDS in
Indonesia and if we don't tackle it now then in seven years there
will be one million people infected with HIV," said Sujudi.

In the seminar, House members promised to approve a
government's budget proposal worth Rp 999 billion (US$112
million) for coping with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Indonesia.

"The House must approve the budget proposed by the Ministry of
Health for HIV/AIDS because the nation is facing a serious
problem," spokesman for House Commission VII for health and
population Surya Chandra Surapaty said in the seminar.

In the seminar, Sujudi said that to deal with HIV/AIDS the
government would need Rp 999 billion within five years.

"The current budget for health is about Rp 4 trillion with
only 2 percent of it allocated to fight HIV/AIDS," said Surapaty.

The seminar was part of a campaign to educate House members
about HIV/AIDS to ensure that they would deliberate effectively
on bills relating to HIV/AIDS.

The seminar was attended by House members, experts from
ministries and domestic and foreign non-governmental
organizations as well as people with HIV/AIDS.