'Media, private sector must help fight AIDS'

'Media, private sector must help fight AIDS'

JAKARTA (JP): A senior journalist said yesterday that there
comes a time when the press should interpret its stories, and
that time comes when it writes about the deadly Acquired Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

"We should not only present a series of facts. A feeling of
compassion, empathy and emotion must be included in news
presentations on AIDS in order to arouse people's attention and
understanding on the problem," St. Sularto, the deputy chief
editor of the Kompas daily, told the national conference on AIDS
yesterday.

Sularto said that the media could play a significant role in
fighting AIDS. The media should also pay serious attention to
problems related to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which
causes AIDS.

The three-day national conference on AIDS, which began on
Wednesday, aims to provide a forum for policy-makers, religious
leaders, medical workers, academics and activists to set up
proper programs to fight against AIDS in Indonesia.

"HIV and AIDS are not just health problems. They are closely
related to social, economic and political issues. They are the
problems of all human beings and their future," Sularto said.

Theoretically, he said, the press should become closely
involved in all social problems. And since it first exploded in
the l980s, AIDS has become a serious social concern.

"The press will never exaggerate if it gives ample coverage on
the issue," he said, pointing out how inadequate the
understanding of most people, including media workers, was of
AIDS.

"A lack of understanding on AIDS-related problems has plunged
people into a kind of social hysteria," Sularto said.

He cited the controversy over the planned visit of American
basketball star Magic Johnson, who tested positive for HIV, and
the isolation imposed on a woman in Pontianak who admitted that
she was HIV positive.

"These saddening stories wouldn't have happened had the people
been better-informed about the HIV and AIDS infections," he said.

The conference also wanted the private sector to play a
greater role in fighting AIDS.

Bambang W. Soepriyanto, personnel director of the National
Gobel electronics company, said the matter was new to the
business world.

"In the past, we always thought that AIDS is a disease of
people in the West, and that it could never affect us," he said.
"Now, however, we have realized that AIDS is already here. Any of
us may become one of its victims."

In cooperation with two anti-AIDS campaign organizations, the
Kusuma Buana Foundation and the Program for Appropriate
Technology, the National Gobel company has given 2,000 of its
employees AIDS awareness training.

AIDS mostly strikes people aged from 20 to 49 years; 60
percent of Indonesian workers are in this age group.

Marzuki Abdullah, director of planning of the Bandung-based
Bio Farma pharmaceutical company, said that AIDS awareness
programs were important in protecting the company's 550 workers
from the deadly disease. (raw)