Ten more HIV cases found, raising total number to 390
Ten more HIV cases found, raising total number to 390
JAKARTA (JP): Ten more carriers of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus have been identified over the past two months in Indonesia, raising the total number of people with the virus to 390, health officials say.
Of the new cases, five are HIV-positive, while the other five have developed AIDS.
The Director General of Communicable Diseases Control Hadi M. Abednego said here Thursday the steady increase in the number of AIDS/HIV cases is a cause for alarm, especially because the disease is mostly affecting younger people.
"We are losing people of productive ages, between 20 and 39, to AIDS," Hadi said.
Hadi was briefing the press about the plan to commemorate International Health Day which falls on April 7. Minister of Health Sujudi and the World Health Organization's representative to Indonesia Robert J. Kim-Farley were present.
Farley told The Jakarta Post that the increase in AIDS/HIV cases is a major concern. "Both the government and non- governmental organizations should cooperate in educating the public about the risks of contracting the virus," he said.
Unless some urgent measures are taken, "Indonesia could end up having millions of carriers within a few years", he said. "By then it'll really be too late."
Indonesia will launch a healthy cities campaign tomorrow. It will consist of efforts to improve urban health and to find solutions to environmental problems.
The ministry routinely receives reports from regional and local health offices about the results of their monitoring of AIDS and HIV.
Of the people who tested positive for HIV, two are residents of Irian Jaya, two of Jakarta and one of North Sumatra. Four of the people with AIDS are from Irian Jaya, while the remaining one is a Jakartan.
Six of the people with HIV and AIDS were Indonesians while the identity of the remaining four is unknown. The ministry's data showed that three of the people with AIDS are heterosexual while the other two are homosexual.
The national total now comprises 95 people with AIDS -- 59 of whom have died, and 295 HIV-positive people.
Jakarta still tops the list with 137 HIV and AIDS carriers, Irian Jaya is second with 102, Bali and East Java each have 33 and Riau has 29 carriers. (31)