'Massive anti-drug campaign needed'

'Massive anti-drug campaign needed'

A national estimate shows that there are at least 10,000
injecting drug users (IDUs) in Jakarta who face a high risk of
contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) through sharing
needles. An official report as of Dec. 31 also shows that the
capital has the highest recorded number of people living with
HIV/AIDS at 2,505, or 45 percent of the total 5,540 cases
nationwide.

Against such alarming statistics, the Jakarta Provincial
Narcotics Agency (BNP) is among those institutions taking a stand
to prevent and curb the incidence of drug use and HIV
transmission in the city.

The Jakarta Post's Damar Harsanto interviewed BNP Jakarta
chairman Fauzi Bowo on the issue. Fauzi holds a civil engineering
doctorate from the University of Kaiserlautern in Germany, and
also chairs the Jakarta chapter of the country's largest Muslim
organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Below is an excerpt from the
interview.

Question: What is the main obstacle in implementing measures to
curb injecting drug-related HIV transmission?
Answer: Stigma is the main stumbling block impeding our efforts
to reduce HIV transmission and prevent the spread of drug use.
Recently, we have been aggressive in compiling data on drug use
as well as HIV infection cases. This is part of the reason we
continue to see the number of cases rising significantly year by
year.

Unfortunately, the more actively we try to reach out to drug
users and people with HIV/AIDS, the more we find it difficult to
reach them. Many families whose members have been diagnosed as
HIV-positive or are using illicit drugs try hard to hide the
fact. They think it is a family secret they must hide to save
face. They don't realize it hampers our efforts to give help to
affected people. This is the culture we live in, whether we like
it or not.

What measures must be taken, then?

We need to exert all munitions in our possession. We have to
take an all-out approach in curbing the unchecked spread of
HIV/AIDS. Of course, we are in dire need of more active
participation from relevant agencies and institutions, as well as
other parties that may seem less relevant, such as religious
institutions and religious leaders.

Why?

With regard to promoting harm reduction programs, we still
find that coordination among government institutions is a serious
problem.

Many institutions remain locked in a heated debate over
several contentious issues, like the use of condoms and needles
to effectively protect people who exhibit high-risk behavior and
are therefore vulnerable to HIV. Many think that the campaigning
for condom use is a lax suggestion to legalize casual sex.

Could you give a concrete example?

In my capacity as chairman of the NU's Jakarta chapter, for
instance, I can say that we (the NU) do agree with taking
measures to stop drug use and to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. We
also strongly support efforts to provide better care to affected
people.

However, we could not come out and declare that the most
effective way to solve these problems is, for instance, to advise
people to use condoms as protection (against sexually transmitted
diseases) when they have sex. It may be that most of us will
readily agree with the grand design to resolve these problems,
but other issues arise when it comes to the details, since many
may disagree with the particular measures we should take to
tackle them.

What about funding? Is there enough?

We do face a great problem with the funding allocated to
combat the explosion of the epidemic's transmission. In face of
as enormous a problem as we have and the extent to which it poses
a great danger to innocent people, like affected wives and
children, the funding is meager.

We are more fortunate, though, compared to other provinces
that receive less funding. The administration has allocated Rp
7.5 billion every year to finance all programs to address the
issue properly.

But still, it is far from sufficient.

What is your suggested solution?

Regardless of the many limitations we face, we have to work
hard to carry out a massive, continuous and intensive anti-drug
campaign. We have to break through all constraints in order to
reach affected people. In addition, we have to actively take part
in the drive to raise public awareness about the seriousness of
the issue and the dangers it poses to future generations.

If possible, we could make the campaign as broad and far-
reaching as we have successfully implemented with the family
planning program.

Otherwise, we will see this time bomb explode before our eyes
in the next few years, since the spread of the infection has
reached full momentum. This monster is spreading quickly and
widely as though it is driving down an open highway, since we are
too busy denying the devastation it is causing our community.