Some 543,100 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia, according to ministry data.

“People with HIV should be 100 percent disciplined in following health protocols. Wear your masks, wash your hands," the ministry’s HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases subdirectorate head, Nurjannah Sulaiman, said at a recent public discussion on the impact of the pandemic on people with HIV/AIDS.

“[...] Because they belong to the vulnerable population,” she said, adding that COVID-19 patients with comorbidities, including those of HIV/AIDS such as chronic kidney disease, have worse outcomes than patients without comorbidities.

The pandemic hit Indonesia as the government and the rest of the world continued to try to reduce HIV infections and help people with the virus live longer and healthier lives. As outlined in the 2016 UN Sustainable Development Goals, Indonesia aims to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. This includes zero infections, zero deaths and zero discrimination.

But now, seven months into the pandemic, access to imported antiretroviral (ARV) drugs remains a problem in Indonesia.

A nationwide survey of 1,035 people with HIV carried out in August by the Indonesian office of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and nonprofit organization the Positive Indonesia Network (JIP) showed that 52 percent of respondents had only enough ARV drugs to last for a month.

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