RI faces tough challenges in the fight against AIDS: Experts

Lack of awareness about AIDS, the increasing numbers of intravenous drug users, and cultural diversity across the vast archipelago are some of the major challenges facing Indonesia in its fight against HIV/AIDS, experts said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“It’s not an easy task to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in a country like Indonesia,” National AIDS Commission (NAC) executive secretary Nafsiah Mboy said at a seminar titled “Confronting HIV/AIDS in Indonesia”.
  
To tackle the tough challenges resulting from a decentralized government and an uncoordinated bureaucracy, the scarcity and unpredictable availability of resources,  Nafsiah  emphasized the need for dialogue between civil societies and local governments.

Citing the NAC’s motto - “We have to work together to defeat HIV” - she urged all stakeholders and society in general to take action against the spread of HIV: “Everyone, all of you must participate. Let’s not wait for someone else to do it.”

An overview of the epidemiological situation in Indonesia shows that out of an estimated 270,000 HIV positive cases, less than 15 percent were reported as of March 2009, and that intravenous drug usage had become the leading cause of the disease in the country.

Effective implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs must be made a priority on government and NGO agendas, she said.

Slow disbursement of funds is also a point of concern for the Global Fund, a fund that focuses on HIV/AIDS, and recipients alike, as is the coordination required between the various institutions involved in the effort.

 “Good coordination is needed to ensure the thing that comes out of the kitchen is eatable,” the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) to Indonesia, Ambassador Julian Wilson, said in his opening remarks.

Bachti Alisyahbana of IMPACT, an anti-AIDS organization operating in Bandung, said there would be a projected 1 million HIV positive cases in Indonesia by 2015, given the current growth rate of infection unless action was taken to avoid such an exponential spread of the disease.

Bachti elaborated on the project’s achievements in the West Java city of Bandung, which included routine testing and care for AIDS victims at Banceuy prison, and decreasing dependence on foreign aid.

Currently, the EC is financially supporting the activities of  IMPACT.
 
The mayor of Bandung also recently approved a pilot project to be developed by IMPACT strengthening school curriculums and training teachers to impart relevant skills for AIDS prevention.

Amélie Courcaud, program coordinator of the EC-backed organization Médecins du Monde (MDM),  talked about the challenges in spreading awareness about AIDS in Papua, the region with the highest rates of HIV cases in the country.

“Talk about condoms is taboo in Papua. Still, we don’t deny traditional beliefs. Church leaders are involved in all prevention and awareness activities, as are student clubs because the youth are very active in this cause,” Courcaud said.

Since 1998, the MDM has been constrained by logistics and human resource issues when raising awareness about AIDS in Papua through campaigns on sexual and reproductive health, distribution of condoms and other prevention activities.

The seminar comes a week before the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) convenes in Bali, and is thus “a most timely occasion to help generate more attention and support for the fight against HIV/AIDS,” as described by Ambassador Wilson.

Emphasizing the European Union’s (EU) support for developing countries and particularly Indonesia, Wilson outlined the contribution of the EU and EC to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), which amounts to US$ 7.4 billion, or 60 percent of the Global Fund’s total resources.

Indonesia will have received grants totaling over US$450 million by the end of this year to bolster the anti-AIDS efforts of the government and certain NGOs.  Though its contribution to the Global Fund is a point of pride for the EU, it is well aware that fighting AIDS is a Herculean task that requires patience and never losing sight of the objective, said Wilson.