T

he National AIDS Commission’s (KPAP) Jakarta office has revealed that the number of people living with AIDS in Jakarta has increased by 563, rising from 8,093 people in December 2015 to 8,656 in December 2016.

Most of the new cases include people who were previously reluctant to be tested for HIV and went on to develop AIDS, according to KPAP’s head of prevention for Jakarta, Kristina Suharto.

“They didn’t know they had HIV and therefore, were not on antiretroviral treatment. By the time they finally had themselves checked, they showed AIDS symptoms,” Kristina said.

She added that despite the increase, the KPAP was optimistic that the spread of HIV/AIDS in Jakarta could be curbed by 2020.

In 2016, the commission started a campaign through its Fast Track City 2020: Ending the AIDS Epidemic program.

The fast-track program aims to make 90 percent of people with HIV aware of their condition, have 90 percent of people diagnosed with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy and 90 percent of people receiving antiretroviral therapy experiencing viral suppression by 2020.

The Health Ministry estimates that there are 92,920 HIV cases in Jakarta. By 2015, it had identified 47,440 cases and expects to identify the remaining by 2020.

“Until then, we will encourage people to have themselves checked, so we can identify those with HIV who aren’t unaware of their status,” Kristina said.