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37-year-old grave digger and ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver sat on a bench outside the Gambir community health center in Central Jakarta on Monday after he received methadone medication to help him deal with his addiction to heroin. He often shared syringes with other IDUs (intravenous drug users) because he did not have enough money to buy a new sterile one.

'€œI started using heroin in 2001. I was influenced by my wife and her friends, who were IDUs,'€ said the resident of Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

'€œThen, my IDU friends started to die of illness one after another,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

The death of his friends prompted him to take an HIV test at the health center in 2007.

'€œMy test results showed that I was infected by HIV/AIDS. Soon after that, my wife took the test and it turned out that she too was also infected by the virus,'€ he said.

After he and his wife were diagnosed HIV+, doctors provided them with a regimen of treatment, including antiretrovirals (ARV) and methadone.

'€œWe have to take ARV pills twice a day to prevent the virus from doing even more damage to our immune system,'€ he said.

The methadone, he said, had helped them to recover from their heroin addiction.

'€œThe therapy has improved my physical health. Now I have enough strength to work and live a productive life, despite my illness,'€ he said, adding that he earns Rp 100,000 (US$10.60) a day.

He added that he and his wife were fortunate because they had not passed on the infection to their three children.

Data from the National Commission on HIV/AIDS Prevention in 2012 showed that Jakarta was the province with the most incidences of HIV/AIDS, with over 5,000 people in the capital living with the condition.

However, out of 44 community health centers in Jakarta, only 19 provide comprehensive treatment for HIV/AIDS including Gambir health center.

The head of Gambir'€™s HIV/AIDS unit, I Gede Subagya, said over 100 patients were being treated at the health center.

'€œSince 2011, we have provided local residents with comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment, which includes voluntary counseling and testing, ARV and methadone,'€ he told the Post at his office.

'€œCurrently we have three trained doctors, one laboratory analyst, one pharmacist and six paramedics in the HIV/AIDS unit,'€ he said.

His team work with the Family Planning Association (PKBI) in recruiting volunteers for a public awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS.

On Monday, a team from the Global Fund, a Swiss NGO that focuses on prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, TBC and malaria, visited the Gambir health center.

'€œWe have worked with the commission since 2003 to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic and prevent the virus from spreading any further,'€ Global Fund media officer Marcela Rojo told the Post.

'€œI really like what I see in the [community health center], especially how the medicine change the patients'€™ lives. They can go back to work, so I can see that the medication is working,'€ Marcella said. (ogi)