Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The National Aids Commission has asked regional administrations nationwide to pay serious attention to efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
"We are facing difficulties convincing the regional administrations to implement the HIV/AIDS prevention programs because most of them are yet to see AIDS as a serious threat," the commission's program deputy Sri Kusyuniati told a conference Friday.
"We will do more lobbying of regional administrations so that they will allocate a larger part of the budget and implement the prevention programs."
Sri said the number of people who died of AIDS increased every year and called on all elements of the nation to be more active in preventing the virus from spreading.
As of June this year, the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases had reached almost 15,000, and had taken the lives of thousands of people. "But I believe the real figure is 10 times higher than that," National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) head Sugiri Syarief said.
He said AIDS was now the problem of the nation, not just individuals and encouraged everyone, particularly leaders, to see it as a serious threat. "This time, we want to focus on making the regional administrations aware of this matter," he said.
Sugiri said there were only two regional administrations – Batam mayoralty in Riau Islands province and Papua province – that had bylaws encouraging residents to use condoms.
He added that even though there were some success stories in the reduction of new patient numbers in countries like Thailand and those in Africa, it was difficult for the BKKBN to follow in their tracks.
"The situation in Indonesia is different to that of Thailand or Africa. They can reduce the number of new infected patients because they have successfully campaigned for the use of condoms among their people," he said.
Sugiri said Indonesia faced difficulties in campaigning for the use of condoms because most of the time it received strong opposition from socio-religious groups that accused them of encouraging adultery.
Sugiri said, to celebrate International AIDS Day, they will hold condom week from Dec. 1 to 8, where they will distribute condoms for free at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, Senayan Circle and popular meeting areas, as well as holding concerts, seminars, street campaigns and a charity night.
He said Indonesian people needed to improve their awareness of how important condoms are to prevent the spread of AIDS. "I don't know how many good housewives and children have been infected by the disease just because their husbands are 'playing around' outside," he said.