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HIV/AIDS infects 152 housewives, 31 children: Commission
The West Nusa Tenggara-chapter National AIDS Commission (KPAP NTB) says the number of HIV/AIDS infections reported in the province has continued to increase with a wider reach, now also affecting previously low-risk groups such as housewives and children
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T
he West Nusa Tenggara-chapter National AIDS Commission (KPAP NTB) says the number of HIV/AIDS infections reported in the province has continued to increase with a wider reach, now also affecting previously low-risk groups such as housewives and children.
The KPAP NTB data shows that cumulatively, from 2001 through July this year, as many as 152 housewives had been reportedly infected with HIV, 88 of whom had developed AIDS. In the same period, 31 children aged between 2 and 9 years old in the province had tested positive for HIV.
'The commission's findings show cases of HIV/AIDS transmitted to housewives and children have started to increase over the last five years. This is what we should anticipate because in NTB HIV/AIDS infections are not only in high-risk groups, such as injecting drug users,' KPAP NTB secretariat head Soeharmanto told The Jakarta Post in Mataram on Wednesday.
Citing official data, he said the number of housewives infected with HIV/AIDS was higher than HIV-infected commercial sex workers, which reached only 62, of whom 12 had developed AIDS.
Overall, NTB recorded 912 HIV-infected people during the period 2001 to July this year, 504 of whom had developed AIDS. Of the total 504 AIDS-infected patients, 216 had died.
Soeharmanto said the number of reported HIV/AIDS infections had continued to increase during the past five years as more voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) facilities were being provided in Lombok and Sumbawa since 2009.
In Lombok, five VCT facilities are available and being operated in four hospitals -- NTB regional hospital, Mataram regional hospital, Praya Hospital in Central Lombok, and Mataram mental health hospital ' and Karang Taliwang community health center in Mataram. Two more VCT facilities will become available in Bima and Sumbawa, but are yet to operate.
Soeharmanto said KPAP NTB and its partner groups had continued to encourage people, especially those in high-risk groups, to have the courage to get an HIV checkup at a VCT center.
The ongoing stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-infected people had led many to remain somewhat reluctant to have an HIV checkup although it was free, he added. (tah/ebf)(++++)
