HIV among students a concern
Dewi Santoso, Jakarta
Indonesia is not working effectively to prevent HIV/AIDS among students because of a lack of commitment on the part of the government and social agencies to teach prevention in schools, the National AIDS Commission (KPA) says.
KPA secretary Suharto, who will head Indonesia's delegation to the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok from July 11 to July 17, said the government should promote the danger of the deadly virus through the national education curriculum.
"We have a policy to incorporate courses on the danger of the virus and its prevention into the curriculum. But it has not yet been implemented effectively," he said.
Suharto was referring to the Ministerial Decree No. 303/U/1997, which called for education programs to prevent students from contracting HIV/AIDS.
"We want the government to seriously make a commitment and focus on the decree so as to provide elementary, junior and senior high school students with information on the danger of HIV/AIDS," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said the preventative programs for students should be included in courses on health and physical education and reproductive health.
Other countries like Thailand and the Philippines had implemented similar educational programs effectively, Suharto said.
A country report issued by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Tuesday the HIV prevalence among Indonesian injecting drug users increased by threefold to 48 percent in 2003 from 16 percent in 1999.
The number of injecting drug users is now estimated at between 125,000 and 196,000, while data from the Ministry of Health reveals that 52 percent of HIV/AIDS cases in the country affected the group of people aged between 20 and 29 years.
Adi, who said he had contracted the lethal virus two-and-a- half years ago after sharing a used syringe, supported the idea of teaching HIV-AIDS prevention in schools.
"We need to let the youth know that the world would be much brighter without drugs," said the 25-year-old, who is to attend the conference in Bangkok.
He hoped he would learn more about the dangers of the virus and drugs at the conference and planned to share this knowledge with friends and other young people in the country.
During the conference, the country's 220-strong delegation will also discuss the stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
"They (people living with HIV/AIDS) should not become alienated or be discriminated against by society. What they need is full support from their families, friends and other community members to face and fight the disease," Suharto said.