Denpasar, Buleleng have high HIV/AIDS cases

BULELENG: The Bali AIDS Mitigation Commission (KPAD) announced Saturday that since the province's first recorded case of HIV/AIDS in 1987, more than 2,650 people have since contracted the disease.

The figure is cumulative and includes those who have since died from the disease.

Denpasar municipality, Buleleng regency and Badung regency are listed as the three areas with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

Agency data shows nearly 250 people have died from the disease in the province. "There has been a shift in the way HIV/AIDS is transmitted these days. We used to see the disease spreading in intravenous-drug user (IDUs) communities through shared needles, but now it's through sexual intercourse," said KPAD's program coordinator, Yahya Anshori.

As of February, more than 60 percent of individuals living with HIV/AIDS reportedly contracted the disease through heterosexual intercourse, 26 percent from sharing needles, 5.7 percent from homosexual intercourse. Less than 2 percent of cases were from mothers transferring the disease to their unborn child. - JP