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Beyond the commission: Controlling HIV
The National AIDS Commission was established in 1994 by the government as a response to the need for tackling the prevalence of HIV/AIDS at the time.
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The National AIDS Commission was established in 1994 by the government as a response to the need for tackling the prevalence of HIV/AIDS at the time. (Shutterstock/File)
F
or more than a decade, the National AIDS Commission has been at the forefront of national campaigns against HIV and AIDS in Indonesia. Until now, it has become the centerpiece of national efforts to combat the human immunodeficiency virus and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. However, the days of the commission, which has been a driving force for many successful breakthroughs in dealing with this epidemic, are numbered.
All things being equal, by Dec. 31, as mandated in Presidential Decree No. 124/2016, its activities will come to a grinding halt. As part of the government’s efforts to get rid of what it perceives as overlapping bureaucracy and enhance greater efficiency, the commission will follow other similar government-formed commissions that had been previously dissolved.
As expected, many lamented such a decision as an example of rash judgment.
The tasks and functions coming under the purview of the commission will be taken over by the Health Ministry, while its coordinating functions will revert to the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Ministry.
This shakeup might have served the purpose of slimming down a bloated bureaucracy to achieve greater efficiency. Yet, it has left a question mark over the effectiveness of such a decision, and over the preparedness of the government institutions to take over the commission’s role.
The National AIDS Commission was established in 1994 by the government as a response to the need for tackling the prevalence of HIV/AIDS at the time. Its functions were beefed up and expanded in 2006 as further response to the need for a strengthened, coordinated multi-sectoral approach, which is essential to success of AIDS control programs.
It was the first time that AIDS response in Indonesia took such an overarching approach, engaging national and sub-national governments, civil society organizations, community-initiated and professional organizations.
