Harder Work Needed To Prevent AIDS

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Vice President Boediono said the nation needed to work harder to prevent the spread of AIDS to achieve the target of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015.

"Based on a report from Bappenas (national development planning board) on MDGs, the prevention of HIV/AIDS has not been on the right track to achieve the target of MDGs in 2015 and therefore, there need to be harder work from all of us," he said in his address marking the World AIDS Day 2011 here on Sunday.

Although the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Indonesia was still low or 0.17 percent of its population, statistical data suggested that the number of new HIV/AIDS-affected cases in the country was still on the increase, he said.

It seemed that the mortality rate of HIV/AIDS-affected people had  begun to decline. In 2007, 21 percent of HIV/AIDS-affected people died but the figure fell to 17 percent in 2008, he said.

Despite the drop, the vice president said the number of people dying of AIDS was still significant, ranging between 3,000 and 5,000 per year. This meant that 10 people died of AIDS every day, he said.

AIDS sufferers who had access to anti retroviral medicines had not reached  40 percent of the entire AIDS sufferers, he said.

He noted that harder work was badly needed to prevent the spread of AIDS. There were at least five steps to prevent the spread of AIDS; firstly, expanding service facility networks for HIV/AIDS sufferers; secondly, promoting the public participation in the prevention and handling of AIDS sufferers, and thirdly, improving coordination and management involving all parties and institutions handling HIV/AIDS-related problem.

The fourth thing was improving the information system and the fifth was mobilizing funds to handle HIV/AIDS case across the country, he said.(*)