ID Nugroho, Surabaya – The government needs to speed up the distribution of HIV antiretroviral medicine throughout Indonesia to help people with HIV/AIDS, an activist said Monday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the 3rd National AIDS Meeting in Surabaya, East Java, Nafsiah Mboi, chairwoman of the National AIDS Prevention Committee, said that the quick distribution of the drugs was badly needed, since such medicines were one of the most effective ways to maintain the health of people with HIV/AIDS.
The four-day meeting, sponsored by the United Nations joint team for AIDS, was opened by Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.
"The medicine is only available in 153 hospitals in 28 provinces throughout Indonesia, while demand is not only at the provincial level but also in regencies and mayoralties," Nafsiah said.
The United Nations has supported the AIDS response in Indonesia since 1996, with the Joint United Nations Program for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 2003-2007, providing direct support for the National AIDS Commission and local AIDS commissions, UNAIDS said in a statement.
"UNAIDS has high hopes that the AIDS meeting will be a strategic opportunity for everybody to sit together and harmonize all efforts toward an accelerated AIDS response in Indonesia," Prasada Rao, UNAIDS regional support team director for Asia and the Pacific, said.
Even though Indonesia is classified as a country with a concentrated HIV epidemic, there is still a window of opportunity to take action, so long as all stakeholders strive to streamline their programs to the priority needs of the country, he said.
"We know that resources are available, but we must seek to avoid needless program duplications and repetitions, and try to focus on priority interventions which produce an impact," Rao said.
The four-day meeting will bring together key stakeholders, such as the government, legislators, medical practitioners and the national and regional AIDS commissions, as well as civil society, people living with HIV, women, men who have sex with men, and transgenders.
"This will be an extraordinary opportunity for various groups to review Indonesia's AIDS response, so that the theme 'uniting efforts to scale up the AIDS response' can be realized," UNAIDS country coordinator Jane Wilson said.
UN-sponsored activities in fighting AIDS in Indonesia include prevention and treatment services for children and orphans, life skills education among young people and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (UNICEF), condom promotion among young people and sex workers (UNFPA), providing access to treatment and care for injecting drug users and in prison settings (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) as well as among the refugee population (UNHCR).
The theme of the Surabaya meeting, "Uniting efforts to scale up the response", is directly relevant to the UN, which recognizes the urgent need to build on the good work that is already taking place.
"Planning this AIDS meeting has brought all stakeholders together and will renew our vision and commitment to working together," Wilson said.
Other UN agencies focus their programs on supporting prevention, treatment and policy research.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) seeks to understand and respond to the effects of HIV/AIDS in the world of work, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) invests in the development of education and advocacy materials, while the World Health Organization (WHO) works on the public health and medical aspects of HIV/AIDS.
The World Food Program (WFP) focuses on food and nutritional support for people living with HIV, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) provides training and capacity building for the government, while the World Bank invests in analytical work and studies.
More information on the joint UN program can be found at http://www.un.or.id.
According to Health Ministry data, 5,230 cases of HIV and 8,194 cases of AIDS have been reported in the country since 1987, but official estimates put the number of Indonesians living with HIV and AIDS at 169,000-216,000.
Commitments have been made by the government, whether at United Nations level or regional level through the Association of Southeast Asian Nation, and actions implemented to halt the spread of the epidemic.
In 2006, however, 986 new HIV infections and 2,873 AIDS cases were reported, indicating there is still a long way to go to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV.
More than 1,500 people are expected to attend the meeting.