The Australian government will deliver Rp 5 trillion (US$555 million) in aid to disadvantaged areas in Indonesia that have no access to health facilities and clean water.
Perarca Karetji, program director of Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), said that the aid was a grant whose use was specified in mutual agreement between the two countries.
The aid will focus on the reducing maternal and child mortality rates and will be handled by the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Maternal and Neonatal Health (AIPMNH), the National Program for Community Empowerment (PNPM Mandiri), HIV/AIDS programs and other organizations.
Karetji said that his government had distributed A$100 million (US$106 million) in aid in 2010 to help around 50,000 convicted criminals and 26,000 drug addicts.
According to the Health Ministry’s Director General of disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the number of people with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia reached 24,282 in March, 2011, prevalence rate below 0.2 percent.
“The prevalence is relatively low and already reached MDG’s target, which is below 0.5 percent,” Karetji said Friday in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, as quoted by Antara news agency. (drs)
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