|
 Although new infections have been falling globally, Indonesia is one
country where they are on the rise as the disease spreads rapidly
among gay men and other men who have had sex with men (MSM) over the
past decade.
HIV prevalence among the group jumped to 25.8 percent in 2015 from
5.4 percent in 2007, according to Indonesia's National AIDS
Commission.
"In terms of number, MSM is the fastest growing (group)," the
commission's secretary Kemal Siregar told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
Asia Pacific is home to the second highest number of people living
with HIV in the world, with India, Indonesia and China accounting
for around three quarters of new infections in 2015, according to
the U.N's AIDS agency UNAIDS.
South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the
world.
UNAIDS estimates there are around 690,000 people living with HIV in
Indonesia.
Siregar said there was now "uncertainty" over meeting Indonesia's
target to end an AIDS epidemic by 2030 as efforts to reach out to
the MSM group - who he described as "hidden population" - had become
harder due to increasing social stigma.
This follows a backlash against Indonesia's lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) community earlier this year.
This was also exacerbated by a drop in foreign funding as
Indonesia's economy grew and international donors withdrew. External
funding was a key resource for HIV prevention work.
"If the funding is not there, it's very hard to reach this group
because the government's funding is mostly for treatment, for
medicines, not for prevention," the official said.
The LGBT community had long been tolerated in Indonesia, especially
in urban areas but a backlash suddenly began in January after a
minister said the community was banned from university campuses.
[to top of second column] |
Attacks against the LGBT community quickly grew, with ministers and
religious leaders denouncing homosexuality, prompting criticism from
human rights group.
The government said in August there was "no room" for the LGBT
movement in the Southeast Asia nation.
Siregar said the commission has intensified its efforts to reach out
to the MSM group and planned to establish MSM-friendly clinics
outside the 10 cities where they are currently located.
"They have to know this community, they have to reduce the stigma
and have the communication skills to communicate with this group,"
Siregar said.
Since the first HIV case was reported in Indonesia in 1987, 13,449
people have died from the disease, according to the latest health
ministry data as of March this year.
(Reporting by Beh Lih Yi @behlihyi, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith;
Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of
Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights,
trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
