HIV/AIDS harm reduction project launched

HIV/AIDS harm reduction project launched

P.C. Naommy, Jakarta

The controversial harm reduction program to prevent the spread of
HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users (IDUs) has been put on trial
in a pilot project launched on Friday.

Operational head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Comr.
Gen. Togar Sianipar said the agency would measure the success of
the program based on the decline in the number of people
contracting HIV/AIDS, the number of drug users and the number of
drug traffickers.

"If the program fails to meet the requirements, we will not
continue it," Togar said, on the sidelines of the program's
launch at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare here.

The pilot project will run for three years in Jakarta and
Bali. It will involve local authorities, such as health offices,
police, research centers and selected non-governmental
organizations (NGOs).

The core of this program is to discourage the sharing of
contaminated drug paraphernalia by providing sterile disposable
needles and disinfectants, as well as providing methadone and
buprenorphine as substitutes for heroin.

Aside from attempting to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, the
program will also provide therapy and basic health services for
drug addicts.

In Jakarta, the community outreach arms for the program are
Atma Jaya University, with an information and health kiosk that
covers Duren Sawit in East Jakarta, and the University of
Indonesia's health research center, which covers the Depok area.

The project team has several working groups that will be in
charge of running counseling programs, providing health services,
and serving drug users who want to exchange their used needles at
harm reduction posts.

Data from the Ministry of Health in 2003 showed that injecting
drug users accounted for more than 80 percent of an estimated
80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS nationwide.

The ministry also estimated the number of addicts injecting
drugs in the country at between 124,000 and 196,000 at the end of
2002.

"This project is so important, we're racing against time,
since more than 50 percent of the IDUs in Jakarta have contracted
HIV/AIDS through sharing syringes," said project manager Tarmizi
Taher.

Tarmizi, who was at one time religious affairs minister, said
the situation was worsened by the fact that at least 3.94 percent
of Indonesia's population of 220 million are drug users.

Earlier, Jakarta deputy chairman of the National AIDS
Commission (KPA) Izhar M. Fihir said the program was expected to
reach 10,000 users per year. To date, NGOs -- which set up
needle-exchange programs long before the launch of the
government-sponsored program -- have reached 3,000 injecting drug
users.

The harm reduction program is based on a memorandum of
understanding between the BNN and the KPA signed on Dec. 8, 2003.

The program, however, has raised concerns among the public and
law enforcers, who fear that it will justify drug abuse and
encourage drug trafficking.

"Especially in this case, we don't want to be a force of
opposition, but we must also take the lack of law enforcement,
low discipline, and weak control in the country into
consideration," said Togar.

He said strict monitoring was needed to avoid possible abuses
of the program.

KPA secretary Farid W. Husain said the program would be
evaluated annually by a monitoring committee, which involves
Australian-based NGO, the Center for Harm Reduction.