Highest HIV/AIDS infection rate recorded late 2008

Luh De Suryani ,  Contributior ,  Denpasar   |  Sat, 02/14/2009 2:44 PM  |  Bali

Bali saw a jump in the rate of HIV/AIDS infections last year, data from the Health Agency shows, but one expert is contending the data actually demonstrated better awareness and data collection.

According to the October-December 2008 data on HIV/AIDS, Bali saw 308 new cases, an average of 100 new infections per month in the island. In comparison, West Java recorded 285 and North Sumatra recorded far fewer, only 183, for the same period

But Dewa Nyoman Wirawan, an expert on HIV/AIDS in Bali, attributes the surge to better fieldwork by the Bali Commission for HIV/AIDS and the island's numerous NGOs which focus on raising awareness, treatment, and mitigation of the disease.

"There are more Voluntary Counseling and Testing clinics providing services. With more counseling, more people are being open about their condition," he said.

Wirawan, a founder of the Kerthi Praja Foundation which focuses on helping HIV/AIDS patients, said his organization had identified 50 new cases of HIV and AIDS among the 500 patients it has counseled over the past two months.

Bali tops other regions in the country in terms of prevalence, with 34 HIV/AIDS infections per 100,000 people. It is second only to Papua, which has three times as many: 129 infections per 100,000 people.

Data from Bali's Health Agency shows 2,510 people have been infected with HIV or AIDS in the province as of December last year, a marked increase from the 1,836 cases reported in 2007, implying a rate of 2 new cases daily in 2008.

Data from the Health Ministry shows 22,644 Indonesians are infected with HIV/AIDS as of December last year.

Meanwhile, discrimination towards people living with HIV or AIDS persists in Bali as two more cases of families and communities refusing to clean the bodies of AIDS sufferers who died have been reported.

One case involved Made Agus (not his real name), an AIDS-infected man who died earlier this month. His family refused to take care of the body, forcing doctors to move the body to the Sanglah Hospital morgue.

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