Most of Indonesia’s AIDS infection occurs among male

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 09/16/2008 12:15 PM  |  Health

AIDS infections within the country occur most commonly among male intravenous drug users, the latest survey revealed Tuesday.

Of a total of 12,688 cases reported since Jan. 1, 1987 to June 30 this year, 9,963 of them were male, 2,658 female, and 65 others unidentified, the National Family Planning Board (PKBI) reported, as quoted by Kompas.com.

PKBI staffer Dony Purwadi said there was a total of 18,963 cases of HIV/AIDS infections in the country altogether up until June 30, with 2,479 deaths reported.

Most of the infections occurred amongst intravenous drug users with 6,237 cases, followed closely by heterosexuals at 5,438, and homosexuals and bisexuals with 483 cases.

Dony also reported that there have been 228 cases of prenatal infections, 10 cases due to blood transfusion and another 291 from unidentified causes.

The Health Ministry's report also revealed 1,758 new cases up until June this year, whereas 3,783 HIV/AIDS cases were reported last year and 3,859 cases the year before.

Dony said that within the April-June trimester, 148 cases were tested positive for HIV and 919 were confirmed with AIDS. Most of the new cases were reported in South Sulawesi with 155, Papua 110, Bali with 90 cases and Jakarta with 47, he added. (amr)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.