The number of new HIV infections continues to rise in a nation with few testing clinics and the continued prevalence of unprotected sex, the latest health data shows.
According to data released on Monday by the National AIDS Prevention Commission (KPAN), infection rates were on the rise in several provinces, including Bengkulu, Papua, Maluku, Aceh and Banten.
Indonesia has one of the fastest-growing HIV transmission rates in Asia, the study showed. And in many instances, the actual number of people living with HIV is believed to be far higher than official figures.
On the Sumatra Island province of Bengkulu, the Kipas Foundation conducted their own survey that found rates were growing 24.6 percent a year. By their approximation, the official figures released by KPAN underestimate the total number of people living with HIV in Bengkulu.
"To date, we've recorded 470 people here who are infected with HIV, although according to the KPAN the figure is only 298," said foundation spokesman Marly Yuanda.
The foundation obtained the data through outreach programs aimed at the at-risk community, including commercial sex workers, drug users and transgendered individuals, he said.
Marly stressed the importance of addressing this issue quickly, before it spreads even further. Voluntary counseling and testing clinics (VCT) have had some impact in containing the spread of the virus, he said.
But many parts of the province still lack a VCT, Marly said. "You could say that HIV/AIDS is endemic throughout Bengkulu because cases have been discovered in all districts and towns here," he said. "The problem needs to be seriously addressed without delay."
In the satellite city of Tangerang, the local AIDS prevention commission (KPA) reported some 612 people recently tested positive for HIV. Those infected were among 5,300 people from high-risk groups who underwent voluntary testing, said KPA spokeswoman Yully Soenar Dewanti.
This year, the number of HIV positive cases was higher than usual, said Yully. Between 1998 and 2010, the city recorded some 445 instances of HIV infections.
Yully expected the number of people living with HIV to continue to rise, as long as local youths continue practicing risky behavior, like unprotected sex. "The number will probably continue rising because there are thousands of people deemed at high risk of contracting the virus," Yully said.
In the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh, official figures list only a handful of cases in the capital city.
"We only found five cases of people testing positive for HIV so far this year," said Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, the Banda Aceh deputy mayor. "However, it's possible that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Aceh will continue to rise, because the Aceh people are very open to outsiders, and public awareness of the need for regular medical checkups remains very low."
According to the Banda Aceh KPA, 79 new infections were reported across the province last year. There are no figures totaling the number of people living with the virus in Aceh.
The city plans to host a pageant in July to select HIV/AIDS ambassadors who will raise awareness about the disease, highlighting the importance of safe sex and regular testing, Illiza said.
The number of new HIV infections reached an alarming rate in the Maluku province, officials said, with 380 new cases reported in 2010. In total, 1,335 people have contracted the virus since 1994, said Aziz Shamsuddin, a spokesman for the Maluku provincial KPA. Some 720 of those cases have progressed to full-blown AIDS.
In Maluku, the virus was present in all levels of society, with new cases reported in both high-risk groups like sex workers and traditionally low-risk groups like housewives and entrepreneurs, Aziz said.
The KPA attributed this rise to instances of unsafe sex between increasingly affluent but unfaithful businessmen and their wives. Most of the new infections – 82 percent – were among residents between the ages of 15 and 39 years old, Aziz said.
Despite the dramatic increase in Maluku, Papua still recorded the highest prevalence of HIV infections. The local KPA reported a total of 2,463 people living with HIV within the province.
Agung Laksono, the coordinating minister for people's welfare, said that the high rate of infections there was sustained in large part by a widely practiced cultural tradition encouraging transactional sex between young men and women.
The high number of cases was previously seized upon by officials who proposed implanting microchips into infected individuals to monitor their movements, in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus. However, that plan was shelved after a massive public outcry.