Sarah Boseley, health editor – People with HIV in Papua, Indonesia, who are deemed to be "sexually aggressive" may be microchipped to enable the authorities to identify, track and punish those who deliberately infect others under a plan which has the backing of the provincial parliament.

Human rights campaigners and support groups yesterday condemned the plan as an intrusion into privacy as well as being unworkable. It would further stigmatise those with HIV and push the epidemic underground, they said.

The detail of the scheme has not yet been worked out, but if it gets the vote of the majority in Papua's parliament, it will be enacted next month, said an MP, John Manangsang. Anybody found guilty of deliberately infecting another person would be liable to a six-month jail sentence or a fine of about 3,300 Pounds.

Indonesia has one of the fastest growing HIV rates in Asia, but Papua, the poorest and easternmost province, has been worst hit, with almost 61 infections per 100,000 people – 15 times the national average.

"The health situation is extraordinary, so we have to take extraordinary action," said an MP, Weynand Watari.

A committee would be created to determine who should be fitted with chips and to monitor patients' behaviour, but it remains unclear who would be on it. It is also unclear what level of proof of deliberate infection the microchips would provide.

Nancy Fee, country coordinator for UNAids, said she had "grave concerns" about the effect it might have on human rights and public health.

John Howson, associate director of the International HIV/Aids Alliance, said: "The majority of new infections come from people who don't know they are HIV positive. It is not going to be effective and you are treating people as criminals. It will increase stigma and promote a feeling of complacency."