Injecting drug use major cause for HIV and AIDS growth in Indonesia
By, Antara News, May 22, 2007
Jakarta - Injecting drug use and risky sexual behavior have been the major causes for the growth of HIV and AIDS in Indonesia since 1999, Indonesian representative at the 61st United Nations General Assembly session in New York, Adiyatwidi Adiwoso Asmady, said on Monday.
"In Papua, an increasing number of HIV and AIDS cases are attributable to men engaging in commercial sex work and premarital sex without condom use," Adiyatwidi said.
She added that there were an estimated 193,000 HIV-infected people in 2006, and there were over 8,000 people with fully developed AIDS. The highest prevalence of AIDS was found among 20 to 29 year olds.
She said national leadership came from the ministerial level, under the guidance of the National AIDS Commission. Management at the provincial level was in the hands of local AIDS commissions, which were multisectoral bodies comprised of Governmental and non-governmental representatives.
"They worked within the framework of the national AIDS strategy, which emphasized family welfare and religion in combating the spread of HIV," she added.
She said the strategy provided strong support for a practical public health approach to the HIV challenge, including condom promotion and harm reduction strategies for injecting drug users.
According to her, the Government had enhanced the capacity of the National AIDS Commission to provide sterile needles and condoms to high risk groups, among other things.
Adiyatwidi said the health sector budget had increased annually and currently amounted to $13 million. Regional Governments received $1.6 million in 2006, a 100 per cent increase from the 2004 budget.
"The President had meanwhile expressed interest in tackling the HIV, AIDS epidemic by making a 250 per cent increase to the health sector budget in 2007," she pointed out.
In light of the continued growth of the global AIDS epidemic, the international community was called on to renew its commitments made in 2001 and 2006.
It was particularly important that low- and middle-income countries received the financial backing that they needed to achieve their national targets.
Meanwhile, a United Nations press statement said that as the UN General Assembly turned its attention to the global response to HIV and AIDS, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon promised that the pandemic which had killed more than 25 million people in the course of the last quarter century -- would remain a system-wide priority for the United Nations.
Addressing the Assembly on Monday, as it met one year after last June`s high-level session to review the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS, adopted by Member States in June 2001, Ban stressed that only when the international community worked together with unity of purpose -- unity among Governments, the private sector and civil society -- could it defeat AIDS.
"Today, 40 million people are living with HIV. Almost half of them are women. More women -- including married women -- are living with HIV than ever before," he said, adding that without adequate treatment, all those infected will die beacuse some 8,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses every day.
The UN chief pointed out that at the same time, another 12,000 become infected with HIV. For every person who starts antiretroviral treatment, six more become infected.(*)
Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/5/22/injecting-drug-use-major-cause-for-hiv-and-aids-growth-in-indonesia/
Jakarta - Injecting drug use and risky sexual behavior have been the major causes for the growth of HIV and AIDS in Indonesia since 1999, Indonesian representative at the 61st United Nations General Assembly session in New York, Adiyatwidi Adiwoso Asmady, said on Monday.
"In Papua, an increasing number of HIV and AIDS cases are attributable to men engaging in commercial sex work and premarital sex without condom use," Adiyatwidi said.
She added that there were an estimated 193,000 HIV-infected people in 2006, and there were over 8,000 people with fully developed AIDS. The highest prevalence of AIDS was found among 20 to 29 year olds.
She said national leadership came from the ministerial level, under the guidance of the National AIDS Commission. Management at the provincial level was in the hands of local AIDS commissions, which were multisectoral bodies comprised of Governmental and non-governmental representatives.
"They worked within the framework of the national AIDS strategy, which emphasized family welfare and religion in combating the spread of HIV," she added.
She said the strategy provided strong support for a practical public health approach to the HIV challenge, including condom promotion and harm reduction strategies for injecting drug users.
According to her, the Government had enhanced the capacity of the National AIDS Commission to provide sterile needles and condoms to high risk groups, among other things.
Adiyatwidi said the health sector budget had increased annually and currently amounted to $13 million. Regional Governments received $1.6 million in 2006, a 100 per cent increase from the 2004 budget.
"The President had meanwhile expressed interest in tackling the HIV, AIDS epidemic by making a 250 per cent increase to the health sector budget in 2007," she pointed out.
In light of the continued growth of the global AIDS epidemic, the international community was called on to renew its commitments made in 2001 and 2006.
It was particularly important that low- and middle-income countries received the financial backing that they needed to achieve their national targets.
Meanwhile, a United Nations press statement said that as the UN General Assembly turned its attention to the global response to HIV and AIDS, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon promised that the pandemic which had killed more than 25 million people in the course of the last quarter century -- would remain a system-wide priority for the United Nations.
Addressing the Assembly on Monday, as it met one year after last June`s high-level session to review the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS, adopted by Member States in June 2001, Ban stressed that only when the international community worked together with unity of purpose -- unity among Governments, the private sector and civil society -- could it defeat AIDS.
"Today, 40 million people are living with HIV. Almost half of them are women. More women -- including married women -- are living with HIV than ever before," he said, adding that without adequate treatment, all those infected will die beacuse some 8,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses every day.
The UN chief pointed out that at the same time, another 12,000 become infected with HIV. For every person who starts antiretroviral treatment, six more become infected.(*)
Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/5/22/injecting-drug-use-major-cause-for-hiv-and-aids-growth-in-indonesia/
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 11:17 am
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