Number of people with HIV/AIDS doubled 2004: NGO

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recorded number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the capital doubled from 12,000 in 2003 to 24,000 in 2004, the Greater Jakarta AIDS Care Forum says.

Medical doctor Adi Sasongko of the Kusuma Buana Foundation, one of the forum members, said the sharp increase was partly due to the government's lackluster campaign against HIV/AIDS and sex workers' weak position to force clients to use condoms.

"The figure released by the Ministry of Health also shows that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS increased from around 1,200 in 2003 to 2,500 in 2004," he announced at a press briefing in Kebon Baru, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.

While acknowledging that previous underreporting may have contributed to the sharp increase, Adi said the government appeared hesitant to apply prevailing regulations, such as strict policies on using condoms and syringes, which was partly to blame for the increase.

"Probably because prostitution is illegal, many houses of prostitution claim to be massage parlors and they don't want to admit that sex transactions take place on their premises, and hence, no condoms needed," he said.

Adi warned that if the government continued to pretend that everything was under control, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS would soar.

He added that civil servants also pretend there is no AIDS problem in their areas.

According to data provided by the forum, at least 2.2 million people in Jakarta are at high risk of contracting HIV.

Most of these people, including prostitutes and their clients, spouses and their children and drug users are active in the entertainment industry.

"Little promotion has been done (by the city administration), while many nurses do not understood how to treat people with HIV/AIDS. In many hospitals, nurses will immediately become antipathetic once they know that they are dealing with people with HIV/AIDS," he said.

Forum member Nita, who deals with brothels on a daily basis in West Jakarta, agreed with Adi, saying that around 360 brothels in the area recruited doctors who are not qualified to deal with AIDS. The doctors give antibiotics injections to sex workers.

"They hire any doctor to boost their image as a healthy brothel to attract customers. We don't know whether the needles used are sterile or not," Nita said.

Such doctors should have a permit from the government to treat sex workers, and should use new syringes to inject each patient.

Adi said the current practice was very dangerous because it gave the false impression that the women were medically clean.

"They don't know if they have contracted HIV/AIDS because they don't check their health. Instead of having antibiotics injections, sex workers should check their health regularly," Adi said.