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Jakarta Post

Yogya could be model for handling of HIV/AIDS

Yogyakarta has set a good example of how to deal with the spread of HIV/AIDS, as shown by the high level of awareness among members of high-risk groups in the region getting checked through voluntary counseling tests (VCT)

Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post)
Yogyakarta
Sat, March 10, 2012 Published on Mar. 10, 2012 Published on 2012-03-10T09:47:01+07:00

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Y

ogyakarta has set a good example of how to deal with the spread of HIV/AIDS, as shown by the high level of awareness among members of high-risk groups in the region getting checked through voluntary counseling tests (VCT).

Data at the Yogyakarta Provincial Health Agency shows that the number of people undergoing VCTs has significantly increased from 1,528 in 2009 to 1,584 in 2010 and to 2,274 in 2011.  

“There has indeed been a significant increase,” head of the agency’s prevention and handling of health problems, Daryanto Chadorie, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said that in dealing with HIV/AIDS, the provincial administration cooperated with NGOs. In this case, the relevant NGOs were tasked with reaching out to high-risk communities while the administration paid for the VCTs and medication expenses.

A. Riswanto of the AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA) Yogyakarta credited the familiarization efforts that had long been conducted by the local administrations, the KPA and NGOs for the success of the province in building awareness among high-risk communities of the importance of taking a VCT.

This, he said, had made it possible for the authority to provide early care for infected people and quick prevention of the possible further infection of others.

Across Yogyakarta there are currently 12 posts where people can take a VCT.

They have been set up in hospitals, community health centers (Puskesmas), clinics and at the Indonesian Family Planning Association (PKBI). Most of the hospitals that have VCT facilities also have their own mobile test units. These are quite apart from the VCT mobile unit operated by the provincial health agency.

Head of Puskesmas Gedong Tengen, Tri Kusumo Bawono, said that some 750 people had come to the health center to have VCTs since 2007. This figure does not include another 1,738 who were reached by the Puskesmas’ mobile unit deployed in places such as penitentiaries and red light districts in the region.

“We receive between four and five people a week who ask for a VCT,” Tri said.

Separately, Yusuf Kusumo Nugroho of NGO Vesta, which regularly conducts VCTs for and provides consultation to high-risk men, said that there were at least eight NGOs in the province that had been actively working on HIV/AIDS issues, all with the support of the local government.

“This good relationship between the NGOs and the government should be a good model for other regions,” he said.

As an education and tourism destination, Yogyakarta is seen to be prone to the spread of HIV/AIDS especially due to the high rate of new arrivals each year.

 As of last year, the Provincial Health Agency recorded 1,508 people living with HIV/AIDS in the province, of which 922 had HIV and the remaining 586 had AIDS.

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