Sobering statistics on Indonesia in World AIDS Day commemoration
John Badalu, Contributor, Jakarta
World AIDS Day is coming this Sunday. Once more we are reminded of those who have died and those now living with HIV/AIDS.
This is a condition that has no cure yet. Indonesia's government statistics say this is a country with a low number of AIDS cases. Is that really the case?
A recent study conducted in May to July 2002 by Aksi Stop AIDS (ASA) reveals that we should start to worry.
ASA -- a part of Family Health International and funded by USAID -- is a contractor in AIDS prevention programs here. They work in 10 provinces nationwide.
ASA's research is more focused on transvestites, male prostitutes and gay people. In a period of three months, ASA managed to get 800 blood samples from respondents whose age ranged from 18 to 57 years old.
The results were quite astonishing: 22 percent of transvestites, 3.7 percent of male prostitutes and 2.5 percent homosexual people are HIV positive.
"These numbers may look insignificant, but the problem is, most of the infected men didn't even have a clue that they were carrying it," said ASA's senior technical officer Elizabeth Pizani.
Perhaps even more astonishing was that of those tested, only 15 percent of the transvestites, 33 percent of the male prostitutes and 52 percent of the homosexuals wanted to know the result of their own test.
"It means those who had their blood tested, do not even want know the results. Imagine if they go around and have unsafe sex with multiple partners, then the numbers of HIV positive cases will increase tremendously in two to three years time," Pizani said.
Besides the blood tests, ASA also did further studies of the lifestyles and sexual attitudes and patterns of the people and tried to come up with solutions.
Out of the 800 people, ASA succeeded in convincing 75 to have further in-depth interviews.
"Not only that these three groups have unprotected sex but also they use ecstasy pills and share needles while taking drugs in regular private orgy parties. There is also an interesting fact uncovered: Most male prostitutes are actually heterosexuals. They become sex workers for economic reasons," Pizani said.
The most horrific truth that emerged from the interviews was that 62 percent of transvestites and 53 percent of gays had unsafe sex within the last six months.
Conducting research like this is not easy at all. ASA started in a discreet way by giving cards to transvestites, male prostitutes and gay people with an address and a phone number where they could have their blood tested. This method failed immediately.
They then recruited some transvestites, male prostitutes and gay people to help with the research. They were given two weeks of training before being deployed. This approach was quite successful because in such communities, they trust their own.
ASA researchers then went around to discotheques, swimming pools, parks and other hangout places to take blood samples. They sometimes even built a small tent in the corner of a park, in restrooms of a club and played hide-and-seek along with the transvestites during the frequent police raids.
Why do these people continue to have unprotected sex even when they know the risks behind it?
The main reason is the embarrassment to buy condoms. The second excuse is that they just did not have any at times when they have sex.
"To solve this, first of all, we need strong support from the government, which still does not consider the AIDS epidemic a priority. The distributions of condoms have to be really spread out to all corners of the city. Can you believe that the most popular area for gay people -- Senen -- doesn't even have a pharmacy around that sells condoms? HIV blood test results should also be confidential," Pizani said.
ASA is now establishing a health clinic catering to transvestites to deal with their health needs, as most transvestites do not know where to put themselves in a public hospital (should I be a man or a woman?).
"So, if you change sex partners or use drugs from time to time, do it safely. We don't want to walk with a lit candle on World AIDS Day grieving over a friend's death. We don't want the whole new generation collapsed just because of an irresponsible act," she said.
For further information, suggestions or participation on AIDS prevention program or Aksi Stop AIDS (ASA), email: info@fhi.or.id