'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.