NGOs target young people in anti-AIDS drive

NGOs target young people in anti-AIDS drive

JAKARTA (JP): As sex becomes a common practice among city
teenagers, non-government organizations are targeting young
people in their anti-AIDS work.

They are targeting junior and senior high school students,
university students and young people who work in prostitution.

An executive of the Indonesian Family Planning Association,
Hari Purnama, said yesterday that the organization proposed to
conduct sex education and counseling for high school and
university students in the city.

"Our project would include students of 1,300 junior high
schools, 1,000 senior high schools and 10 universities throughout
the city, prostitutes in the Kramat Tunggak red light district
and entertainment centers on Jl. Mangga Besar," Hari told
reporters after a meeting to review the AIDS prevention program
in the city, which is being financed by the World Bank.

Data released by the ministry of health shows that the number
of people in Jakarta infected with the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) which causes AIDS had reached 105.

It is estimated that a total of 312 people have HIV/AIDS in
Indonesia.

Hari said the proposal was part of a new public health policy
which includes sectors outside of the medical sector in
preventing the spread of the deadly disease.

"This kind of project has never before been implemented in
Indonesia, but it has proven effective in other countries," Hari
said.

Hari said the program included encouraging teachers to have
all their students attend briefings on AIDS and safe sex.
Panderers are to make it a rule that all their prostitutes attend
such presentations.

Hari said that research provided strong indications that
sexual intercourse is common among students nowadays and that,
therefore, it is important to educate them about safe sex.

"It is better to educate them about sex than leave them in the
dark. Thereby, youths will know their responsibilities and can
avoid cases such as unwanted pregnancy, sexual-transmitted
diseases and abortions," he said.

While acknowledging that sex education was still a sensitive
issue in predominantly-Moslem Indonesia, Hari said it was
nevertheless important that it be undertaken.

Rita Kuriasuti, AIDS program coordinator with the city health
office, takes a similar position.

"Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that now there is a
tendency for people to have sex at a younger age," she said.

Jakarta, along with Riau, has been appointed by the National
AIDS Commission as a pilot project for a government-funded aids
prevention program, which will be financed with a loan from the
World Bank.

Four NGOs have proposed projects through which they would
participate in the program, which will start in the 1996/1997
fiscal year. The three-year program will cost Rp 27 billion
(US$12 million).

"The two places have been chosen as models because of their
high AIDS prevalence," Mawarwati, an official from the ministry
of health, told reporters,

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said that the city administration
would play an active role in combating the disease.

"It is important to start the program as soon as possible and
not to wait for the loan. We (the city administration) will use
our own budget to start it," he said.

Surjadi said that AIDS was a problem that needed an urgent
solution and that his administration did not want the disease to
get out of control.(yns)