Government Prioritizes Services for AIDS Sufferers
Wednesday, 29 November, 2006 | 15:15 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government is prioritizing services for AIDS sufferers on the commemoration of the World AIDS Day on 1 December.

“Care will be aimed at attempts on prevention, support, treatment, and medication as well as improvement in anti-retroviral access,” Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said yesterday (11/28).

Siti Fadilah has acknowledged that services for AIDS sufferers are yet to be optimal because hospitals tend to ignore them.

“I do not want to hear that there are hospitals refusing to provide AIDS sufferers with medicine,” said Siti Fadilah.

The Commission for Handling AIDS has recorded that as many as 6,987 persons were suffering from AIDS up until the end of September 2006.

Around 1,651 of them are now deceased.

In addition, the Department of Health has in fact estimated that the number of AIDS sufferers this year amounts to 216,000.

Of this amount, 52.6 percent were infected through hypodermic needle; 37.2 percent were infected through heterosexual intercourse; and 4.5 percent, through homosexual intercourse.

However, the amount of reported HIV/AIDS sufferers is smaller than before.

The amount of AIDS sufferers spread through almost all existing provinces. 14 provinces of them—Papua, DKI Jakarta, Riau, Bali, East Java, West Java, Riau Islands, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Moluccas, East Nusa Tenggara, and Noth Sumatera—has showed a significant increase.

In fact, the amount of AIDS sufferers increased by 5 percent per year in Papua, DKI Jakarta, Riau, Bali, East Java, and West Java.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the six provinces have entered a worrisome phase.

It is only West Sulawesi that is free from the deadly disease.
The Department of Health has estimated that 500,000 people will be infected by HIV/AIDS in 2010.

“This number could increase to one million people if intervention is not significant,” Siti Fadilah.

The expected intervention would be of anti-retroviral services, sincere counseling tests as well as support from families and relatives.

INDRA MANENDA ROSSI