Merauke wages war on HIV/AIDS

Merauke wages war on HIV/AIDS

MERAUKE, Irian Jaya: Regent John Glubagedse declared on Monday the area was in a state of emergency with respect to contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the still-incurable Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

"I will invite all tribal and religious leaders here and declare war on HIV/AIDS," he said at his office, as quoted by Antara.

The regency has the highest incidence of the virus in the country: As of Aug. 20 there were 320 people with AIDS.

The province's health office said that as of Sept. 30, there were 628 HIV/AIDS-related cases, an increase of 30 percent compared with last year.

The issue should not only be seen as a health problem, Glubagedse said.

A tribal approach, he believed, would be more effective in raising the locals' awareness that free sex, which was common among tribespeople, could slowly decimate a clan.

Most of the cases were caused by unprotected sexual intercourse. Several of the cases were infants who had contracted the virus via the mother, according to the local health office. -- Antara