HIV/AIDS causes social anxiety

HIV/AIDS causes social anxiety

By I Ketut Sutika

DENPASAR, Bali (Antara): The tourist island is visited by
thousands of foreign tourists every day. The daily view of
foreigners arriving at and leaving Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport has
become commonplace. As Indonesia's number one tourist
destination, the Island of the Gods last year alone recorded 1.4
million foreign visitors and 2.8 million domestic tourists.

Lurking behind the positive impact of rapid tourism
advancement, however, is the inevitable threat and danger of
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which causes Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

"The threat of HIV/AIDS to Bali is quite worrying," said Tuti
Ariani, director of family health at the Ministry of Health, when
accompanying parenthood and health experts of Nepal and
Bangladesh, who were on a comparative study of Bali's successful
family planning and health management last week.

The influx of tourists has been blamed for the rise in
HIV/AIDS cases, while no cure has been found for the deadly
virus.

Various individuals and agencies have launched different
campaigns to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, including
information and guidance in the hope of protecting the public
from HIV infection.

One of the alternatives to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
through sexual contact is the use of condoms, but the promotion
of this has not run smoothly because not all people can accept
it.

According to Tuti Ariani, the use of condoms to prevent
conception and their function as a prophylactic currently boosted
by the National Family Planning Coordinating Agency (BKKBN) and
the Ministry of Health are equally important.

She therefore called on relevant agencies in Bali to further
intensify the promotion of condoms to guard against AIDS.

Fifth place

There are 115 people with HIV/AIDS in Bali, comprising 89 with
HIV and 26 with AIDS, ranking it fifth after Jakarta, Irian Jaya,
Riau and East Java.

As provincial BKKBN chief Gede Putu Abadi indicated, the first
AIDS case on the island was a Dutch tourist who was found dead in
a lodging house in Karangasem, Bali's easternmost tourist spot,
in 1987.

This first case of HIV/AIDS in Bali, and also in Indonesia,
prompted the provincial health office to play an active role in
the control of AIDS, and led to the formation of the central
HIV/AIDS Control Committee as well as regional committees.

Bali Deputy Governor I Gusti Bagus Alit Putra, concurrently
chairman of Bali's Regional Commission on AIDS Prevention (KPAD),
disclosed that 35 more people with HIV/AIDS were registered in
February-March 2001, originating in the province's penitentiary.

The potential for AIDS to spread in Bali is high, with the
island's tourist arrivals increasing annually.

"Through control and prevention efforts undertaken by dif
ferent parties, including non-governmental organizations, the
number of people contracting HIV is expected to decrease in the
years ahead," Alit Putra said.

Iceberg

Cases of HIV/AIDS are like an iceberg, with only a small part
visible on the surface with many others undetected.

The cumulative total of Bali's HIV/AIDS cases has been
established after the provincial health office and NGOs
intensified their search for people with AIDS, who generally hide
their condition.

At the end of February 2001, it was announced that some of the
155 inmates at Kerobokan Penitentiary who had been checked for
HIV had tested positive, shocking the local Balinese community.

"The 35 had been infected before they were jailed, mostly due
to intravenous drug use, not sexual behavior," said Prof. Dewa
Nyoman Wirawan, a member of the province's KPAD.

In its activities, KPAD-Bali arranges coordination to launch
public information campaigns against HIV/AIDS, particularly
targeting youths and groups vulnerable to this condition.

Seminars are also held by involving community leaders,
religious figures, experts and the medical profession to
formulate strategies and policies so that the control and
prevention of HIV/AIDS will achieve their goals.

Bali has specific features, namely its social system, culture,
family and communal customs, which can ward off the effects of
tourism that are not compatible with the nation's identity,
including habits causing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Bali Governor Dewa Beratha has since 1998 been empowering
custom-based villages to support the island's tourism success by
stimulating local customs and art and culture performances.

Besides, the villages are also designed to fight drug abuse
and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The concern shown by society,
including NGOs, constitutes another advantage in this drive.

Udayana University's HIV-AIDS group, the health office and
related agencies are all combating this illness, while KPAD-Bali
also sends medical personnel for training and comparative
studies.

Such studies on HIV/AIDS prevention and control have been made
in, among other places, Thailand and India, in addition to
training in Jakarta.