World AIDS Day more than just spouting the message
World AIDS Day more than just spouting the message
By Chris W. Green
In conjunction with the World AIDS Day, which falls on December
1, attention is being drawn to escalating number of the AIDS
victims worldwide and tireless efforts to arouse public's
awareness on the deadly AIDS threat. The following articles are
written to commemorate the World AIDS Day.
JAKARTA (JP): World AIDS Day too often becomes an occasion for
just spreading the message of the dangers of AIDS and the means
of preventing its spread. And while prevention of a disease for
which there is currently no cure is clearly of utmost importance,
we tend to forget those who are already infected in the messages
we present.
All too often these messages come over as "good people don't
catch AIDS", with the implication that people with AIDS are
therefore somehow not good. And this despite the fact that most
of the women with AIDS in the world have been totally monogamous,
but have been infected by a husband who has not followed the same
rule.
As the number of people infected with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, continues to rise in Indonesia, so we need to
examine our response to the epidemic. One area of response that
has clearly been badly affected by the monetary crisis has been
the health sector, and especially the ability of public hospitals
to provide care to people with AIDS.
This has particularly affected the main public hospital in
Jakarta, Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM). This tends
to become the 'hospital of last resort' for people who are unable
to afford the more expensive alternatives. And as those
alternatives (thankfully) are now more willing to accept AIDS
patients -- several years back there was really only one, the
Metropolitan Medical Center, which welcomed people with AIDS --
so the proportion of really poor patients being admitted by RSCM
has risen.
Thus, while in the past, there were a few patients who could
afford to contribute to the upkeep of the wards, now this flow
has almost totally dried up. The result is predictable.
RSCM has allocated three wards for AIDS patients. One of these
is a bigger, airy room with two beds. The other two are smaller
single bed wards, which, having no windows, appear rather dark
and dreary at the best of times -- hardly a conducive environment
for people suffering from such a forbidding disease.
Recently lack of funds caused the hospital management to close
the two smaller wards because of maintenance problems. The result
has been that they have only been able to accept AIDS patients of
a single sex -- if there is already a male in one bed in the
larger ward, clearly it is inappropriate to admit a female to the
other bed.
To start to address these challenges, Yayasan Spiritia, a
foundation dedicated to peer support for people with AIDS and
those affected by AIDS, together with POKDISUS AIDS -- a special
AIDS study group from the University of Indonesia, decided to
'adopt' these three wards -- bring them back up to standard and
help to maintain them.
The first effort was a Kerja Bakti (volunteer working day)
held on Nov. 21 by members of the two organizations, to carry out
some essential repairs, and brighten up the rooms. Because of
major plumbing problems in one of the small rooms, they
concentrated on the two other rooms. Volunteers repainted both
rooms throughout, cleaned the bathrooms and put them into
reasonable working order, and fitted new curtains and new bed
linen.
Now both wards look more welcoming and cheery, a factor which
must surely help the patients recover their health more quickly.
Viewing the newly-bright rooms, Sister Tuti, who is
responsible for the floor at RSCM on which the AIDS wards are
located, said, "We're so pleased because this type of help is so
rare. Before, the rooms were really bad, but now they are so
pleasant both for patients and for the staff."
Jane Wilson, manager of the USAID-funded HIV/AIDS Prevention
Project, who put a full day's work in with the group, added that,
"Working in the wards today has reminded me of all the reasons
why I started working in HIV/AIDS over ten years ago. This virus
makes you see life differently. I am very glad to know the people
in Spiritia and hope I can work with them often."
Without ongoing attention, conditions can quickly deteriorate
again. So Spiritia and POKDISUS plan regular visits and follow up
activities. The first priority must be to raise funds to upgrade
the remaining ward -- the estimate is that around Rp 3 million
should be sufficient.
Suzana Murni, Spiritia's founder, notes that another challenge
for patients is that the hospital is unable to supply basic
essentials, such as rubber gloves or face masks required by
doctors and nurses to examine and care for such patients. Thus
the first thing they must do is arrange to buy these items --
plus often such additional items as needles and tubes for
infusion.
As Suzana puts it, "We can imagine how distressing this can be
to people of limited resources at such a naturally stressful
time."
To help address this, Spiritia is also arranging to provide a
packet of such essentials to be offered to newly admitted AIDS
patients, sufficient to cover the first day of treatment. And as
a follow up, Spiritia will offer them a larger package of items
tailored to their needs throughout their stay. Besides additional
supplies of gloves and masks, this may include syringes, infusion
kits, disinfectant, and even bottled water.
Up to now, Spiritia has raised funds for these activities
among its own members. But the coffers are already almost empty
-- and Spiritia has plans to extend similar activities to other
cities in Indonesia with similar challenges. Raising funds for
AIDS patients is never easy; unfortunately companies rarely see
this as an activity with which they wish to see their names
associated. You can help to ensure that this good work continues
and expands with donations to Bank Niaga Cinere Branch account
number 065/01/19985/11/2 in the name of Spiritia. Or contact
Yayasan Spiritia on (021) 7235236 or e-mail: spiritia@rad.net.id
for more information.