Nightmare looms in Papua due to high prevalence of AIDS

Nightmare looms in Papua due to high prevalence of AIDS

Dean Yates, Reuters, Wamena, Papua

Tucking into bowls of meatball soup and sipping tea, the nine
teenage girls look like friends swapping gossip on a Saturday
night in the highland town of Wamena in the country's remote
province of Papua.

They are actually taking a break from selling their bodies
around the corner on a dusty Wamena street for as little as $6.
All have heard of AIDS, they know how it is spread and they are
scared. But they are a minority in this giant province nearly the
size of France, where health experts say many people have never
heard of the disease, let alone how to use a condom.

To make matters worse, Papua already has one third of
Indonesia's recorded HIV/AIDS cases, yet less than one percent of
its population. Some experts fear five percent of the province
could be HIV positive, and warn of an African-style epidemic in a
region were hospital facilities are rudimentary at best.

"Papuan men say they wouldn't be satisfied if they used a
condom," said Gustim Pigmo, at 18 one of the oldest in the group,
pulling a wool cap tight over her head to keep out the highland
cold. The youngest girl was 14.

With their tight curly hair and adorned with tribal jewelry,
the girls looked like they should be on the pages of National
Geographic, not getting ready to hustle for sex.
Only last week, the United Nations warned Asian leaders they were
ignoring a looming African-style HIV/AIDS crisis.

Aggravating the situation in Papua, health experts said, was a
belief that Jakarta introduced the disease in the 1990s to try to
wipe out the indigenous population in one of the country's two
separatist hot spots.

Papua has Indonesia's highest prevalence of AIDS even though
it recorded its first HIV case just 10 years ago and testing
facilities exist only in big centers.

Health experts said little testing for example has been done
since 2000 in Wamena -- hub of the Baliem Valley where some
tribes only emerged from the Stone Age decades ago.

"The situation is bad and I would say getting worse," said
Chris Green, from the Spiritia Foundation, an HIV/AIDS non-
governmental organization in Jakarta.

"Some estimates put the number of people infected at five
percent of the population, which is very high even by African
proportions... We're looking at the potential for a community, or
a number of communities, to almost disappear."

Health experts said the disease was spreading rapidly due to
several factors -- high rates of promiscuity, rituals in some
Papuan tribes where partner swapping takes place, the traditional
absence of foreplay, which increased the risk of abrasions, poor
education about AIDS and a lack of condoms.

Few places could be as remote as poverty-stricken Papua, home
to two million people, including hundreds of tribes that speak
250 different languages. Yet the disease has penetrated deep into
the jungles.

Papua is largely Christian or animist. Wamena is 3,500
kilometers (2,200 miles) east of Jakarta and the Baliem valley
can only be reached by plane.

One man trying to raise awareness is Gunawan Ingkokusumo, head
of the USAID-funded AksiStopAIDS network in Papua.

His figures show that as of December, there were 1,263
recorded HIV/AIDS cases in Papua against 3,782 nationally. He
said the rate of HIV infection could be five percent.

The view among many Papuans that Indonesia had intentionally
brought the disease in has made calm debate on tough and muted
the response from local leaders, experts said.

Ingkokusumo said the reluctance to address the issue was the
key obstacle to action. Several high-profile community leaders
interviewed by Reuters accused Jakarta of introducing the
disease.

Pornography was also playing a role, said Ingkokusumo.

He said a university lecturer trying to raise awareness of HIV
walked into one rural village recently, entered the clan leader's
house to find virtually the entire community, from children to
adult women, watching a pornographic movie.

Green said there were similarities with parts of Africa, with
migrant populations working near mining and logging operations.
Thousands of soldiers are also spread throughout Papua.

A few Papuans with HIV have begun to speak out about the
disease, although the stigma is such that most will not.
Silvia Tamahiwu, who runs a small aid group in Wamena that has
worked with young prostitutes, estimated 100 girls were selling
sex in the town of 15,000 people.

As the nine girls finishing eating, some said they feared they
had HIV. But they had to keep working for the money.

"We are all scared, but what can we do," said Mariee Kiwo,
squeezing a wooden Christian cross around her neck.