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Poor awareness hampers AIDS control in West Java
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One of the participants of "Women's March Jakarta 2017" on March 4 holds high a poster that states "Free women and children from HIV-AIDS". (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)
W
hile facing more frequent exposure to HIV infection, few key populations in West Java get tested for HIV, hampering efforts to tackle the spread of the chronic illness in the province.
Certain groups, such as men who have sex with men, that engage in risky sexual behavior that increases exposure to HIV, make a significant contribution to new cases of the infection in West Java, an official has said.
“Only around 13 percent of men who have sex with men have been tested for HIV. The problem is, around 60 percent of them are married so that their wives and children face the potential consequences of becoming infected with the virus,” said West Java chapter National AIDS Commission (KPA) secretary Iman Tejarahmana after a meeting with West Java Deputy Governor Deddy Mizwar in Bandung on Tuesday.
With such a phenomenon, Iman said, public awareness to carry out HIV testing had become important.
The result of the tests could give the overall picture that all stakeholders, including the government, needed to implement precise HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs, he went on.
It is estimated that the number of people at risk of HIV in West Java reaches 1.3 million. Men who have sex with men are among the key populations, which include female commercial sex workers, clients of female sex workers, transgender people, transgender sex worker clients and injecting drug users.
(Read also: Most new HIV infections recorded in Jakarta)
The Health Ministry says risky sexual behavior, which also occurs in heterosexual relationships, was the highest factor in the transmission of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia at the end of 2016, potentially accounting for 66 percent of cases.
From the time it was first detected in 1987 to the second quarter of 2016, there have been 208,920 cases of HIV and 82,556 cases of AIDS in Indonesia, spread over 407 regencies and municipalities across the country. Based on KPA West Java data, the number of HIV cases recorded in the province from 1989 to December 2016 reached 26,422, while AIDS cases amounted to 8,043.
According to the data, as of December 2016, West Java ranks fourth out of provinces with the highest number of HIV positive cases after Jakarta, East Java and Papua. Meanwhile of AIDS cases, West Java ranked sixth after East Java, Papua, Jakarta, Bali and Central Java.
To increase people’s awareness about HIV testing, the West Java administration is working with AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), an international organization, which supports HIV/ AIDS prevention and control programs in Indonesia.
AHF senior vice president Peter Reis said his organization was committed to helping the program via a three-year partnership with the Health Ministry.
AHF has allocated Rp 31 billion (US$2.33 million) for HIV/ AIDS programs in four areas, which comprise Jakarta and three regencies in West Java, namely Indramayu, Pangandaran and Purwakarta. Most of the funds are allocated for HIV testing and treatment.
Reis hopes the partnership will increase people’s access to HIV/AIDS-related health care services, boost awareness on the importance of early HIV testing and provide quality but affordable HIV medical treatment for all people.
“We will link with them programmatically on service delivery for health care,” he said.
