Extensive Anti-HIV Efforts Urged to Curb Infections

ANTARA FOTO/RAISAN AL FARISI

Students from various campuses conducted an anti-discrimination campaign in the area for a motorized-free day in Dago, Bandung, West Java, on Sunday (2/12/2018).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Since the world\'s first case of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was discovered 40 years ago, the world has worked hard to reduce transmission of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). However, the number of new infections still remains high every year, as is the case in Indonesia

The high number of new HIV cases is inseparable from several factors, including poor outreach and access to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and social stigma, which has led to low treatment coverage.

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Based on data from the Health Ministry, Indonesia had 41,987 new HIV cases in 2020. The ministry also estimated that a total of 543,100 people were living with HIV/AIDS, but only 427,201 people, or 78.7 percent, had been confirmed positive. Of that figure, only 144,632 people, or 26.6 percent, were receiving treatment.

This achievement is still far from the global target of 90 percent.

Meanwhile, among those receiving therapeutic treatment, only 7.7 percent had presented viral suppression or undetectable viral load. This achievement is still far from the global target of 90 percent.

Program officer Timothy Hadi of the Positive Indonesia Network hoped that service efforts could be stepped up for people living with HIV/AIDS.

"We also hope that access to the Covid-19 vaccine for community (outreach) volunteers can be prioritized, so we feel safer when making direct visits to vulnerable areas," he said on Saturday (24/7/2021).

The Health Ministry’s director of prevention and control of directly transmitted infectious diseases, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that new HIV cases were expected to increase in Indonesia.

KOMPAS/DEONISIA ARLINTA

Siti Nadia Tarmizi

She said that HIV could infect both women and men, particularly among those in vulnerable groups and communities, such as sex workers and gay people.

"That is why we must continue to try to identify new cases in order to break the chain of transmission of this disease. The hope is that the trend in the number of people living with HIV will decrease,” she said.

Not just about health

All provinces in Java, except Banten, the Yogyakarta Special Province, and Papua, are large contributors of HIV cases in the country.

East Java Deputy Governor Emil Elestianto Dardak partly blamed the province’s high number of new HIV infections on public reluctance to take HIV tests even though they were known to fall in the category of high-risk behavior, such as frequently changing partners and sharing unsterilized injection needles. Pregnant women and tuberculosis patients, he said, needed to be tested for HIV.

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Another cause was the low adherence to taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. Data up to June 2021 showed that the level of medication was 34 percent.

In addition to using condoms during consensual sex, not having sex with more than one partner, using sterile needles for injecting drug users, and taking ARVs regularly are also necessary to prevent transmission.

M. Yudi Koharudin, the head of infectious disease prevention and control at the West Java Health Office, said that controlling HIV transmission could not rely exclusively on a medical approach. Prevention efforts, he said, required the active engagement of religion, education, and community sectors.

Rumah Cemara executive director Raditya urged optimal prevention efforts to curb the increase in new HIV infections. He said that an anti-HIV campaign should be implemented extensively, including for young people so they could build knowledge about the virus and the disease it causes and help them avoid the risk of contracting HIV.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) that must be consumed by patients with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) were shown at a press conference held by the Indonesia AIDS Coalition (IAC), in Jakarta, on January 10, 2019.

“The HIV prevention campaign has not changed much so far, with it being done monotonously through formal spaces. It should break into the world of young people, such as social media," he said. (ADH/TAN/TAM/NIK/ETA/IKI/FLO/MTK)

(The article was translated by Musthofid).