Margareth S. Aritonang and Elly Burhaini Faisal, Jakarta – In spite of concerns from religious communities and members of the House of Representatives, the government has decided that it would go ahead with its plan to distribute free condoms to at-risk communities in the country to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) said on Wednesday that it would soon ship 57.6 million of condoms to cities across the countries. BKKBN chief Sugiri Syarief said that his agency had appointed local condom manufacturers to supply the contraceptives.
"BKKBN will not involve foreign manufacturers as we will only use local products. We have appointed PT Mitra Rajawali Banjaran to produce the condoms for us," he said.
Sugiri said condom distribution was part of initiative led by the Health Ministry, was to prevent the HIV/AIDS infection as well as other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs). Earlier, newly-appointed Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi denied that she had ordered the distribution of condoms to high school students and youths.
"I was misquoted by media. I've never promoted school-based condom distribution programs. I've never said anything like that," Nafsiah told reporters on Wednesday.
Nafsiah said that it remained important to promote condom use among people most prone to HIV/AIDS through community-based programs. She said that increasing the use of condoms among the portions of population most prone to HIV/AIDS was one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the government aimed to achieve by 2015.
Nafsiah also said that condom use was the most effective way to prevent both unintended pregnancies and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. "But just keep in mind that I've promoted more condom use only for people in high-risk categories, instead of giving free condoms to students and adolescents like what the media has said," she said, clarifying that while the community-based program would reach out to at-risk youths, it would not seek to distribute condoms to the general student population.
Nafsiah, the former National AIDS Commission (KPA) secretary, is under fire for allegedly promoting the notion that an HIV prevention programs should include school-based condom promotion and distribution programs.
In response to the allegations, she recently posted a video on YouTube to clarify her position. Nafsiah said that in Indonesia, unprotected sex, or sex that could cause sexually-transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, affecting people from almost all age groups, including children and adolescents.
Citing data from the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), she said that more than 2 million young people in Indonesia had an abortion in 2010.
"It means that, in fact, even children and adolescents are likely to already have unprotected sex. We also can't deny the fact that the age of marriage is getting lower. So, younger generations should have wider access to sexual and reproductive health services deemed effective to protect them against both infections and unintended pregnancy," said Nafsiah.
On Thursday, the chairperson of House of Representatives' Commission IX overseeing health and people's welfare, Ribka Tjiptaning, slammed Nafsiah for her new condom policy.
"I know that she [Nafsiah] has good intentions because she wants to reduce HIV-AIDS risks. However, distributing condoms to teenagers between 15 and 24 years old is inappropriate. Teenagers don't understand at all about sex or life. Introducing condoms to them could be mistakenly interpreted as an introduction to sex as well. They might be addicted to it [sex] once they know about condoms. Things will turn disastrous if they forget to use condoms or runs out of them," the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker said.