Lack of knowledge on AIDS causes stigma

Lack of knowledge on AIDS causes stigma

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia has a mountain to climb in its attempt to combat
HIV/AIDS due to the long-standing stigma and discrimination
against people living with the virus (PLWHA), observers say.

They agree that people's understanding that HIV/AIDS is a
private matter has led to their resistance to collective measures
against the virus.

"This has given people the justification to label PLWHA as sex
workers or drug addicts," Samuel Nugraha of Pita, the support
group for PLWHA, said on Wednesday.

As a result, he said, PLWHA were isolated, marginalized,
discriminated against, and denied access to healthcare and work.

Data from the Spritia Foundation showed that based on
interviews with PLWHA in 10 provinces in 2002, 31 percent of them
had claimed they had been deprived of access to healthcare.
Ironically, those who had refused to care for the PLWHA were
health workers, who are supposed to provide treatments and
healthcare to people without discrimination.

The stigma has also caused PLWHA difficulties in getting jobs.

"Thirty eight percent of PLWHA in Indonesia voiced their
disappointment that their status was revealed to others, without
their consent; some were refused work and some even fired,"
Samuel told The Jakarta Post.

Because of this, he said, PLWHA did not feel like obtaining
information on preventing and treating the virus.

"The implication is that HIV/AIDS cases are increasing
undetected," he said.

To tackle this problem, United Nations (UN) Resident
Coordinator Steven Allen said that more education on HIV/AIDS
needed to be included in the curriculum in the teaching of
reproductive health as early as junior high school.

"Government policies that relate to youth matters are of the
most concern as schools do not provide adequate information on
health issues," said Allen.

Data from the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) shows
that half of PLWHA, aged between 15 and 24, transmitted the virus
due to their misconception of how HIV/AIDS is transmitted.
Indonesia's youths account for 30 percent of the total
population.

The data further revealed that only 26 percent of PLWHA aged
between 15 and 24, received information on reproductive health
from their parents. Furthermore, 86 percent of these parents
provided their children with information that was incorrect.

"The data shows us that advocacy to young people on the
prevention of HIV/AIDS is needed for a better future as young
people play the key role in this country within the next 10
years," UNFPA Director Bernard Coquelin told the Post.

Education alone is not enough. Religious leaders have
contributed to the stigma.

"They see it as a moral issue. For them, HIV/AIDS is a sin
that PLWHA have to bear for what they have done," Indonesian AIDS
Foundation (YAI) chairman Sarsanto W. Sarwono said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) demanded that
the Indonesian government allocate US$6 million in the 2004
fiscal year to help the global initiative aimed at bringing
antiretroviral treatment to PLWHA.

The fund will be added to WHO's total budget for
antiretroviral treatment in Indonesia worth $27.6 million, of
which $7 million will come from the Global Fund, $5.6 million
from U.S. agencies and $9 million from international non-
governmental organizations.

WHO needs $5,5 billion to fund the program worldwide,
targeting three million PLWHA for the next two years.