HIV/AIDS in Batam demands immediate control

HIV/AIDS in Batam demands immediate control

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau

The increasing number of nightspots in Batam, Riau has been
blamed on the increase of HIV cases.

The industrial city has over the past month appealed for
government attention after the death of two locals from the
disease.

Rukiyati, 36, from Kendal, Central Java, was found critically
ill at a port in Sekupang, Batam, on July 13. The emaciated women
died at the Batam Authority Hospital (RSOB) the next day from
full blown AIDS.

Two weeks later, Laysau, 39, from Sei Harapan, Sekupang, also
died at RSOB from the virus. Unlike Laysau, who was looked after
by relatives, Rukiyati could not be identified. She was believed
to have worked as a sex worker in Singapore.

Official sources said from 1993 to July 2002 Batam had
registered 97 people as infected with HIV, of which 21 had AIDS.
Only one of the people with AIDS was still alive.

The actual number of HIV/AIDS cases, however, is likely much
higher than the figures provided as many other victims, like
Rukiyati, were not on the Batam health office's list.

In Batam, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has reached 2.3 percent,
which is far higher than the national level of 0.32 per 100,000
people, thereby demanding serious government action.

Evianora Azwar, a physician at the Kimia Farma clinic in Batu
Aji, Sei Beduk district, Batam, told The Jakarta Post it was
treating a variety of sexually-transmitted diseases, including
syphilis, gonorrhea and herpes.

"In this clinic alone 50 patients consult us every month. They
are prone to having HIV, which eventually leads to AIDS," said
Evianora, adding that those with venereal complaints were mostly
shipyard employees and sex workers from Batam's entertainment
areas.

Batam's Family Health Foundation is so concerned by the threat
it has undertaken a campaign to raise awareness of the disease in
the city's red light districts to prevent the spread of the
virus, besides cracking down on the prostitutes.

It said the proximity of Batam to Singapore and Malaysia, the
province's far more advanced neighbors, was also seen as one of
the factors boosting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Visitors to Batam have a choice of 34 karaoke centers and
massage parlors, mostly offering commercial sex workers at rates
between Rp 200,000 and Rp 500,000. The majority of the
prostitutes come from Java and Sumatra.

Head of the city health office Puardi Djarius said the sex
workers and foreigners with HIV/AIDS were mainly from outside
Batam, and their number was comparatively large in Riau.

He admitted that his office gathered HIV/AIDS data from
reports made by various parties, including non-governmental
organizations.

"We are waiting for the results of sex workers' blood tests,"
he said.

Chairman of Batam's Ulema Council Asyari Abbas called on the
city administration to include restrictions on the trade on its
agenda, while shifting the city's orientation from vice to
religion.

Indonesia is moving slowly with its eight-year-old National
AIDS Commission (KPA) to prevent the possible emergence of an
out-of-control HIV epidemic.

Only the Ministry of Health seems serious in dealing with the
spread of HIV, while other ministries play only minor roles.