Women, children now at greater risk for HIV infection

Heterosexuals now account for more than half of all new HIV infections in Indonesia, with an increasing number  of women contracting the virus and running the risk of infecting their newborns since 2006.

 According to Dr. Jeanne Uktolseja of the Health Department, most women are infected with HIV by their husbands, with the greatest prevalence of infections occurring among the wives of dock workers, motorcycle taxi drivers, and other public transit vehicle drivers.

She emphasized the need to get men to realize the importance of marital fidelity and the use of condoms at a seminar on HIV infection prevention at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta on Friday.  

 “Mothers with HIV face a 25 to 45 percent possibility of passing on the deadly virus to their newborn infants,” said Dr. Nafsia Mboi, secretary of the National AIDS Prevention Commission, who was also speaking at the seminar.

“Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV intervention can decrease this occurrence to less than 3 percent,” she said.   

“The public will play a key role in the success of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, " she said of the program actively promoted among the public by the commission and non-governmental organizations, such as the Knowledge Light Foundation.

“The Knowledge of Light Foundation runs a four-prong program to ensure the prevention of HIV infection of women and children,” said Dr. Toha Muhaimin, the chief of the foundation, which sponsored the seminar to celebrate its 20^th anniversary.