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.