RI aims to cut HIV infections

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In response to the rising number of people living with HIV/AIDS, the government issued on Friday a new national strategy for 2003 to 2007 in the fight against the disease.

Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi said on Friday that the new strategy would be directed at youths as they were in the high- risk group.

The new strategies, Suyudi said, include promoting a healthier lifestyle, moral and religious enrichment, a supply of condoms and disposable needles for high-risk communities as well as education on reproductive health, counseling and continuous support for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The minister said the strategy was aimed at reducing new infections by two-thirds in the next three to five years.

At the end of March, there were 2,556 cases of HIV and 1,086 cases of AIDS in Indonesia. However, the figures might not be a true indication of the actual amount of patients as many cases go unreported. Some estimates suggest that there were 90,000 to 130,000 people who are HIV-positive in 2002.

Suyudi said the strategy would only be able to reach its target with the support of the media, community leaders, youths and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Touching on the financing of the strategy, Achmad said the government would allocate about Rp 200 billion (about US$22.2 million) for this year alone.

The director general of Communicable Disease Control, Haikin Rachmat, said new infections had almost doubled over the past two years.

Unprotected sex accounts for 73 percent of all cases of HIV in Indonesia, followed by sharing needles at 24 percent.

The latest report on the AIDS epidemic from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said injecting drugs was a growing phenomenon in urban areas in Indonesia because of recent social and economic upheavals.

The seven areas of priority covered in the strategy against AIDS (from 2003 to 2007) are:

1. HIV/AIDS prevention

2. Treatment, medication and support for people living with AIDS

3. Surveillance of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)

4. Research

5. Availability of a support network for people living with AIDS

6. Multiparty coordination

7. Sustainable eradication of the disease.