PKK urged to join anti-AIDS campaign

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has urged members of the family welfare program (PKK) to participate in the AIDS family awareness movement to prevent the spread of the disease in the city.

The governor said that the participation of members of PKK, an organization run by women, to combat the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is important.

"The PKK members have a great role of reminding family members about the danger of the disease, which can affect any person regardless of his or her social and economic status," Surjadi said Wednesday in a ceremony to give Mrs. Surjadi an award for her success in promoting the family planning program in the city.

Minister of Population/Chairman of the National Family Planning Board Haryono Suyono, who handed over the award to Mrs. Surjadi, said that the government is currently focusing the AIDS awareness movement on families.

The movement, which was launched nationwide on March 25, is concentrating on families because so far only 15 percent of Indonesian families are aware of the danger of AIDS.

"Through the AIDS family awareness movement it is hoped that more families in Indonesia will be aware of the disease," Haryono told reporters.

He explained that the movement was launched because AIDS in Indonesia has increasingly become a dangerous domestic problem which needs to be properly addressed as soon as possible.

When asked whether the city administration intends to set up a special body for AIDS patients, however, Surjadi answered that the city has no intention of doing so because he hopes that the spread of the disease will be contained.

"If the movement, health institutions and other related groups interested in preventing the spread of the disease work together intensively, I believe its spread can be overcome and there is no need to establish such a special group," Surjadi said. (yns)