T

he National Commission on HIV/AIDS Prevention says it is optimistic it will achieve its target to increase the use of condoms during sexual activity and raise greater awareness of the deadly virus among teenagers.

The commission has been establishing clinics for voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and care, support and treatment (CST) to assist those living with HIV and AIDS.

In 2004, there were only 25 VCT and 25 CST clinics. Today, Indonesia has 789 VCT and 259 CST clinics spread across the country, and the commission targets to implement 872 VCT and 296 CST clinics by 2014.

With more counseling clinics, the number of recorded HIV/AIDS cases has surged.

In 2004, the commission recorded a cumulative number of 2,682 cases. As of June 2010, the commission recorded 68,927 people were HIV positive and 21,770 had contracted the AIDS virus.

“Many people are shocked when they learn that Indonesia has many HIV/AIDS cases,” Nafsiah Mboi, the commission’s secretary-general, said. “But because we have many VCTs and CSTs, we have been able to record HIV/AIDS cases that were not tracked before.”

Four goals have been formed in the attempt to lower the amount of HIV/AIDS cases.

First, the HIV prevalence in fertile-age citizens should be below 0.5 percent, which has been achieved. Currently, the figure is below 0.2 percent.

Second, the usage of condoms during sexual activity is targeted to reach 65 percent. The current figure is only at 30 percent.

“The low usage of condoms is prevalent in Indonesia, but this is so in almost every Asian country, excluding Japan,” Nafsiah said.

Next is to ensure the percentage of teenagers with comprehensive knowledge on HIV/AIDS is at 95 percent. The current percentage is at 14.3 percent.

Nafsiah said that most schools wanted students to practice abstinence and that they refused to provide sex education.

“In Papua, a region with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, the schools provide sex education and hold training for teachers. But other regions have yet to do this. So our strategy is to provide teenagers with life skills [so they can make informed decisions],” she said.

The fourth goal is to provide anti-retro viral (ARV) drugs to every person with HIV/AIDS by 2015.

So far, the commission has given the ARV medication to 16,982 people with HIV/AIDS (64 percent).

Nafsiah said that the commission could ensure ARV availability until 2012. However, she added, the challenge was to ensure the distribution of the medicine.

She cited a case in Papua in which administration officials did not provide ARV medicine to patients because officials were concerned the patients would not be assiduous in taking it, something that could result in drug resistance.

Data from the Health Ministry showed that consistently consuming ARV medication resulted in a lower-mortality rate of people with HIV/AIDS.

In 2006, only 54 percent of patients received ARV and the mortality rate was 46 percent.

The next year, ARV medication increased to 58 percent, while the mortality rate dropped to 21 percent. In 2008, the percentage of people receiving ARV treatment was recorded at 62 percent and the mortality rate was as low as 17 percent.

“With a good ARV program resulting in a low mortality rate, the new challenge is to keep this key group from infecting others,” Nafsiah said.