We have to make the HIV/AIDS statistics come alive

As part of the ongoing Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, the United Nations Programme on HIV-AIDS (UNAIDS) invited young Indonesian writers, film directors and producers, journalists to a workshop on Sunday Oct. 9. To learn more about this special program, The Jakarta Post's Rita A. Widiadana talked to UNAIDS Country Coordinator Jane Wilson. The following is an excerpt of the interview.

Question:Could you explain the main purpose of UNAIDS's program in this festival?

Answer: This is certainly an unusual step for us to take. In the past we used to work more with doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners to deal with the HIV-AIDS epidemic. But as the disease has spread across the world, we have been constantly looking for new strategies to increase peoples' awareness.

No agency can work alone. Since our establishment in l995, we have embraced a broad array of organizations -- governments, NGOs, businesses, medical experts, media, religious and community leaders and other committed agencies and individuals -- to disseminate information, to conduct campaigns to raise people's awareness on the huge impact of HIV/AIDS. And these efforts have so far been very successful.

This time, we want to engage Indonesian talents who are involved in the creative arts, getting them to zoom into the problem from different perspectives and find new approaches through a range of communication techniques.

The program was funded through UNAIDS by the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and co-organized by the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival committee. Will it be effective?

I strongly believe in the power of words and visuals. They -- the artists, writers, photographers, filmmakers and journalists -- are the people who have the ability to show us the essence of most social problems through their extraordinary skills in arranging words, in capturing objects through their lenses and through other forms of artistic expression. Previous reports or coverage of HIV/AIDS used to emphasize statistical numbers, they tended to be general and did not create a sense of empathy.

That often frightened people, and people usually don't like to be frightened. We need to take a look at this issue differently.

We want television producers, newspaper editors, creative writers, filmmakers and playwrights to develop new angles on the epidemic in order to make it more "real" for people.

The story of one person infected with HIV/AIDS and the harsh stigma and discrimination against him or her in society is much more powerful than hearing that 30 million people in the world are infected by HIV. One story can have a much bigger effect on people's daily lives. We have to make the statistics come alive.

The theme of this session is: Living with HIV/AIDS': A Woman's Perspective. Could you explain why you chose this theme?

Over the past two years, the number of women and girls infected with HIV has increased in every region of the world, including in Indonesia. Every day 7,000 women become infected worldwide. Of the almost 40 million people living with HIV, half are now women and girls.

The saddest thing is that most women and girls do not knowingly take risks. They are vulnerable to HIV largely due to the behavior of others. Women may be forced into sex through peer pressure, by sexually experienced older men, or because they have no alternative means of earning an income.

How alarming is the situation of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia?

The estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia is between 90,000 to 130,000 people. With a total population of more than 200 million, the country's HIV prevalence (about 0.01 percent) is still considered low. But, this can mask the growing risk of HIV spreading.

HIV infection rates continue to climb rapidly and the virus is also spreading very fast in some of the world's most populous countries, including China, India, Indonesia and Russia.

Worldwide, experts believe that the rate of new HIV infections could escalate by 25 percent or more in 2005. The challenges posed by HIV are daunting. The epidemic, together with its associated mortality rates and societal effects, is expanding much faster than the rate at which programs are being implemented to limit it.

We estimate that Indonesia has only two or three years left. Unless we act very quickly and efficiently in that period, Indonesia will face a large-scale epidemic, which will cost the country a great deal, and a great many people will suffer.

So Indonesia still has a window of opportunity. Put it this way, China, India, Russia are probably acting a little late, but Indonesia still has the chance to slow its rate of infection.

With the many problems here, including the hike in fuel prices, natural disasters and political problems like corruption, do you think the HIV/AIDS issue will be overlooked?

With the increasing number of young Indonesians infected by HIV, we cannot continue to ignore the problem. Every part of society must join forces. Luckily, there is a growing commitment from the Indonesian government and donors to address this issue.