Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – The government has blamed the increase in HIV/AIDS infections across the country partly on reticence about condom use that is the norm here.

Health Minister Sri Endang Sedyaningsih, speaking at an event on Friday to commemorate National Health Day, said the issue was complicated by the fact that promoting condom use could be seen as tantamount to condoning casual sex, which is widely frowned upon in the Muslim-majority country.

"It's such a big problem that even saying the word 'condom' is difficult," she said. "We don't support casual sex – and as much as possible it's best to avoid it – but we should consider the high number of housewives being infected by their [promiscuous] husbands."

As of September this year, there were an estimated 50,352 people in Indonesia living with HIV, according to Health Ministry data. Of those, 22,726 had full-blown AIDS. Almost half of the total, or 47.8 percent, were between the ages of 20 and 29. The number of new infections this year alone was 4,173.

The highest number of AIDS cases were in Papua, Bali and Jakarta, whereas the highest number of HIV infections were in Jakarta, East Java and West Java.

Other government officials have raised concerns of the impact of the disease on the younger generation, and have called for more effective awareness campaigns to curb the trend.

"It's worrying that the number of AIDS cases is dominated by those in the productive age range of 15 to 39 years, who account for 78.8 percent of cases," Agung Laksono, the coordinating minister for people's welfare, said on Friday. "The number of HIV infections spreading through heterosexual relations is also increasing."

Vice President Boediono said public awareness of the disease needed to be raised in a more effective manner to target young people. "Our focus should be to prevent them getting infected by unwanted diseases," he said.

"Public education should be focused on the young generation, mainly through health education. This should be integrated into the national school curriculum to raise students' as well as teachers' awareness."

The vice president also said the underlying causes for the overall increase in infections needed to be investigated. "The increase shows exponential progression, not just linear progression, and this requires attention," he said. "Some people have said the official figures are only the tip of the iceberg. I hope it's not that bad."

Sri said that while the number of new HIV/AIDS cases in 2010 did not mark a significant increase, she warned that most cases went undetected. The solution to curbing the increase, she said, is to target the transmission of the disease through mainstream prostitution and other forms of heterosexual relations. "We need to engage the men," she said.

"We'll also campaign in schools because students' current awareness is very poor. The information will be adopted into the reproductive health education syllabus, and will include issues such as sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS."