Citing the increasing number of people becoming infected with HIV, the Health Ministry has recommended that people in high-risk groups get tested for the virus immediately.
The Health Ministry’s AIDS campaign officer, Hariadi Wisnu Wardana, said Tuesday he urged housewives and drug abusers — two population groups who he claimed are mostly ignorant about and highly prone to HIV infection — to take the test as soon as possible.
Hariadi said prostitutes and homosexual men were better protected against HIV because they realized that they could be infected with the virus anytime. He claimed this despite the fact that HIV prevalence rates for sex workers is significantly higher than for housewives.
He said most housewives and drug abusers were not aware that they were highly prone to the virus.
“Housewives get infected through their husbands, who have sexual intercourse with other partners,” he said during a press conference to commemorate World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.
He added drug abusers contracted the virus through sharing needles with infected drug users. The logical solution of safe needle distribution did not come up.
“Many married men are not aware that they are already infected with HIV,” he said.
“They don’t realize that they are spreading HIV to their wives and other partners during sexual intercourse.”
Sapari, a National Narcotics Agency spokesman, claimed it was difficult to prevent drug users from reusing syringes, again sidestepping the alternative of safe needle distribution.
According to National AIDS Commission (KPA) estimates, there are 298,000 people living with HIV in Indonesia.
However, data from the Health Ministry showed a significantly smaller and unrealistic figure. As of September, the ministry listed 18,442 people as infected. There were previously 3,708 people listed, but many had died, the ministry claimed.
The number of new HIV infections increased by around 1,400 every year since 2005, according to the ministry’s latest data.
Hariadi said people could take the HIV test at hospitals.
Ines Angela, program manager of gay rights organization Srikandi Sejati Foundation, told the conference most of its members had taken the HIV test and consistently used condoms during sexual intercourse with their partners.
She suggested that people made a habit of using condoms every time they had sexual intercourse.
“I always insist my partner wear a condom. He is sometimes a little bit fussy about it, but he does not refuse,” Ines said.
Dini, an official from the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Network of HIV-Infected People (Jothi), said HIV testing would be the first step toward making sure the virus’ spread was being controlled.
“People shouldn’t be embarrassed about taking the test,” she said, adding that her association was made up of 738 people infected with the HIV as of July this year.
Hariadi said a preventive therapy method would be the next step after the HIV test.
He said that preventive therapy, a treatment given to people at risk of HIV infection, would provide HIV prevention for people who had taken the HIV test.
The Health Ministry introduced the therapy in the middle of this year and it has been implemented in 26 hospitals across the country.
“The therapy will prevent people, who are at risk of HIV infection, from getting into the first stage of HIV,” he said, adding that there were four stages of HIV.
He said the first and second stages were conditions where people infected with HIV faced the lowest risk of developing full-blown AIDS.
“This happens in the first three years,” he said, adding that HIV positive people faced the largest threat during their first four to six years of living with the virus, when the threat of contracting other diseases, such as tuberculosis, was great. (nia)
