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Education key to preventing HIV/AIDS among housewives
The Health Ministry's data suggests that housewives are more vulnerable to the risk of HIV transmission than sex workers.
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A stock image shows the red ribbon for marking World AIDS Day, which falls annually on Dec. 1. Recent Health Ministry data indicates that spousal transmission was prevalent among housewives with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia. (Shutterstock/Hafiez Razali)
W
ith the Health Ministry's data showing that housewives are the group most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in Indonesia, a female reproductive health forum has said that educating women on reproductive health rights and fighting the stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are key to prevention.
The ministry’s data shows that 14,721 of the 102,667 PLWHA recorded between 1987 and 2017 were housewives. The figure is higher than the 3,314 sex workers with HIV/AIDS.
Housewives were at risk of HIV transmission from their husbands due to their lack of knowledge in reproductive health rights, said Hartini, an activist of the Indonesian Positive Women Network (IPPI) who is HIV-positive.
Hartini was infected with HIV by her former husband. By the time she was diagnosed in 2008, she was already in clinical stage 4 of HIV, which is defined as the viral infection's progression to AIDS.
"I was just an ordinary housewife at the time, a little too naive, even. I thought I would never get infected because I was not a sex worker or a drug user," she said last week at a discussion forum on female reproductive health in South Tangerang, Banten.
"However, I was infected because I failed to notice my former husband's risky behavior," said Hartini.
HIV transmission from husbands to wives was common in the country, said Dr. Adiyana Esti of the Angsamerah Foundation that specializes in sexual and reproductive health.
