Reach out to people with HIV/AIDS, president says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on the nation on Thursday to reach out and support people with HIV/AIDS, saying that the move would minimize the spread of the epidemic.

In an almost one-hour off-the-cuff speech in front of participants of a training for HIV/AIDS volunteers, Megawati stressed that people with HIV/AIDS needed support.

"We should not alienate them or consider them bad elements in society, they are victims and only by reaching out to them we can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS," Megawati remarked.

The President scrapped a prepared speech to open the training and spoke passionately of her experience when encountering people with HIV/AIDS. The President recently visited a rehabilitation center for people with aids and one of the residents of that center requested to meet her.

"The presidential protocol asked me not to meet her, I cannot understand why because when you learn about the virus you know how it spreads," she stressed.

"So, I met her and she hugged me, I believe that these people need support in enduring their suffering and we should not brush them aside," Megawati added.

The President had repeatedly expressed her concern over the spreading of the virus, which had worsened in recent years due to an increase in the number of drug users in the country.

According to government data, some 120,000 people are infected with the virus, but HIV/AIDS activists believe the number is much higher.

Some 52 percent of those infected are young people aged between 20 years and 29 years, with most contracting the virus through the sharing of syringes.

One of the major reasons for its rapid spread is the fact that people tend to hide their condition as they are afraid of the reaction of the public as HIV/AIDS are often associated with drug abuse and sexual promiscuity.

"We should not stigmatize these people, we need to support them. It won't help if their family considers them a disgrace," Megawati emphasized.

The President further said that she wished to build a rehabilitation center for people with HIV/AIDS in the capital's main thoroughfare Jl. Sudirman, for the public to understand more about the virus.

"People with HIV/AIDS should not be alienated, they have the virus, so what? We need to support them," Megawati reiterated.