'HIV/AIDS awareness campaign needed'

'HIV/AIDS awareness campaign needed'

With HIV/AIDS emerging as an increasing threat, many still treat
it as a personal problem, without realizing that the virus can
infect anybody, whether they are living a lifestyle that exposes
them to the infection or not. The lack of awareness causes the
stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS.
The Jakarta Post talked to several people about the issue.

Annie, 29, works at the Australian Embassy, South Jakarta. She
lives with her parents in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta:

Although I'm not an expert on HIV/AIDS, I have more than basic
knowledge about the virus. I know that it can be transmitted
through sexual intercourse, blood transfusions or the use of
contaminated syringes.

This knowledge is sufficient to prevent me from discriminating
against people living with HIV/AIDS. I can get along with them
because people cannot easily be infected by the virus.

What is needed to raise people's awareness on HIV/AIDS is to
hold a campaign that involves religious leaders because, so far,
the public have a perception that any campaign for the wider use
of condoms is simply trying to justify extramarital sex.

Sinta, 23, works as a media relations officer at the General
Elections Commission in Central Jakarta. She lives in a rented
house in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta:

I know that AIDS is a lethal condition that occurs after
someone has become infected with HIV. It takes several years
before a person living with the virus can lose their immunity.

I know that the virus is transferred mainly through sexual
intercourse and blood transfusions, but in this country most
HIV/AIDS cases are related to the sharing of needles.

If someone I knew got HIV/AIDS, I would remain their friend.
However, I would, of course, keep my distance if they started to
bleed, got wounded or something like that. I wouldn't want to get
infected, right?

--The Jakarta Post