Working committee on HIV/AIDS in jails formed

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Alarmed by the rising number of inmates testing positive for HIV/AIDS, the government and non-governmental organizations have formed a national working committee as part of an attempt to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in penitentiaries.

During a meeting with health agencies and prison wardens here on Monday, the working committee revealed that an increase in the number of intravenous drug users (IDUs) sharing needles with one another and unsafe sexual practices were the major causes of the rise in HIV/AIDS among inmates.

Data from the Ministry of Health and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) show that in the Salemba penitentiary in Central Jakarta, only 0.2 percent of 497 blood samples taken anonymously in 1998 were HIV positive. In 2001, however, 22 percent of the 250 inmates tested were found to be HIV positive.

In the Kerobokan prison in Kuta, Bali, 35 out of 62 inmates, who were also IDUs, were found to be HIV positive in 2001.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights' director for narcotics, Soejoto, said on the sidelines of the meeting that the committee would first concentrate on fourteen prisons housing large numbers of narcotics inmates.

There were 383 correctional facilities across Indonesia with approximately 68,000 detainees and inmates in 2002.

"Up to the end of this year, our focus is to raise awareness by giving information to inmates and wardens on HIV/AIDS," said Soejoto, who is also the chairperson of the committee.

The national committee includes representatives of the Indonesia HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project (IHPCP), the BNN, the Ministry of Health and the National AIDS Commission (KPA).

Provincial working committees will also be established and future programs in prisons will include counseling and voluntary testing.

"The NGOs will fund this project and the health agencies will provide technical assistance," said Soejoto.

Meanwhile, following a memorandum of understanding signed last December between the BNN and KPA on harm reduction measures, three prisons -- in Bali, Cirebon in West Java, and Cipinang in Jakarta -- have been chosen to serve as pilot projects.

BNN director Comr. Gen. Togar Sianipar said that should these projects fail, harm reduction, which includes needle exchange and methadone treatment programs, would not be applied in the general community.

Ministry of Health figures reveal that from 1987 to March 31 this year, 2,746 people were found to be HIV positive and 1,413 found with AIDS. A UNAIDS report, however, estimates the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia to be 130,000. The government has accepted that the UNAIDS figures are probably accurate.