Nurfika Osman

A volunteer displaying an assortment of condoms during a National Condom Week event in Jakarta on Monday. An expert said heterosexual intercourse now accounted for an estimated 50 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases in the capital. (EPA Photo)

AIDS Agency Offers Online Help for Drug Users Trying to Quit

The Jakarta HIV/AIDS Prevention Commission, in collaboration with the capital’s health agency and the US and Australian governments, on Tuesday launched an online methadone registration system for drug users attempting to wean themselves from heroin and morphine.

Rohana Manggala, the head of the commission, also known as the KPA, said the system now in place at 11 community health centers (Puskesmas) and two hospitals would facilitate drug users’ access to methadone maintenance treatment, limit abuse of the system and help prevent the spread of HIV.

More than 70 percent of HIV cases in Jakarta are the result of the sharing of needles by injecting drug users.

“Through this online system drug users are registered and prevented from getting too much methadone,” Manggala said.

“This online system will also help us keep accurate records on the number of drug users being treated.”

She said the online system was available at community health centers in Tanjung Priok, Koja, Jatinegara, Kramat Jati, Tebet, Kemayoran, Gambir, Senen, Cengkareng, Tambora, and Grogol Petamburan.

It is also available at the Drug Addiction Treatment Hospital in Cibubur and Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta.

Manggala said between 80 and 150 patients were currently registered in the program at each community health center. She said the methadone was fully subsidized by the central government with assistance from the US and Australian governments.

“In the future, we are going to establish the same system at community health centers in Johar Baru, Duren Sawit General Hospital, Koja General Hospital and Cipinang Prison,” she said, adding that methadone therapy was aimed at mitigating HIV/AIDS infections and helping patients improve their quality of life.

It is estimated that about 24,000 people in Jakarta are infected with HIV, however only 3,810 cases have been confirmed, with 425 deaths from the disease this year.

Under the international theme of “Universal Access and Human Rights,” the US government is once again standing in partnership with the Indonesian government in supporting World AIDS Day, which is being observed today.

Indonesia’s theme this year is “Working Together Community and Government Can Accelerate Access for Information, Prevention, Care and Support for All.”

A statement issued by the US Embassy said the country supported Indonesia’s National AIDS Program with its own annual $8 million HIV/AIDS program.

The US program focuses on prevention efforts, technical assistance and capacity building with NGOs and district governments to expand services for most-at-risk populations in eight provinces where local epidemics are escalating. These provinces are Papua, West Papua, North Sumatra, Riau Islands, Jakarta and East, West and Central Java.

According to 2008 UNAIDS estimates, the HIV epidemic in Indonesia is among the fastest growing in Asia. The epidemic is concentrated primarily among intravenous drug users and their sexual partners, commercial sex workers and their clients and men who have sex with men. There are an estimated 270,000 people currently living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia.

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