Dessy Sagita – An uneven HIV/AIDS budget that favors preventive measures over treatment programs, and an inability to involve civil society in the policy-making process have contributed to the deaths of people infected with AIDS, a public discussion was told on Thursday.
"Most of the budget goes to the National Narcotics Agency and barely covers the treatment for those who are already infected," said Yenny Sucipto, a researcher from the National Secretariat of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency.
Yenny said the majority of the money for HIV/AIDS programs was spent on preventive measures, especially those aimed at reducing the number of intravenous drug users, while other high-risk populations, such as men and women involved in prostitution and housewives with high-risk husbands, received very little of the national budget.
She also said that those who were already infected received very little money compared to intravenous drug users.
"The budget and the programs are too focused on preventive measures, while those who are already infected don't receive proper treatment and are left to die," she said.
Hartoyo, a researcher with Our Voice, a gay rights organization that focuses on HIV/AIDS issues, said the government's efforts to curb the spread of AIDS were ineffective because there were too many regional bylaws that hampered work to stop the transmission of the virus.
"The programs won't work as long as discriminatory bylaws related to criminalizing drug use and prostitution are still applied," Hartoyo said.
Eva Sundari, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that anyone who wished to criticize how the budget was used should take it up with the government.
"The House of Representatives' authority is mostly limited to working with numbers, while the policy making comes under the government's jurisdiction," she said.
Eva said that to challenge the government's policies, the NGOs and other civil groups should have concrete proposals that they could present to the government.
"If you want to criticize the government, please come up with solutions that can be recommended instead of merely looking for flaws," she said.
Budi Hermanto, an official with the Indonesian AIDS Commission (KPA), said it was understandable that the majority of the AIDS budget went to preventive programs.
"The bigger the budget for preventive measures the better, because buying antiretroviral drugs to treat those already infected is extremely expensive," he said.
Budi also said the budget for intravenous drug users was so large because they accounted for the biggest number of new HIV/AIDS infections.
However, he also denied that other high-risk populations were being ignored.
Budi also denied that NGOs and the public were not involved in policy making.
"We always ask for their opinions and recommendations in all of our programs," he said.