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The head of the health department in Solo on Monday said curbing the rate of HIV/AIDS had become more difficult after the closure of the city’s main red-light district in 2002 because keeping tabs on prostitution had become more difficult.

The government closed the Silir red light complex in 2002, making it difficult for the health office to monitor or control the commercial sex workers’ activities, said Sri Wahyuningsih, the head of the office.

“However, to open a discussion on a possible new location is a very sensitive issue,” she said. To commemorate World AIDS Day, an event which will be observed around the globe today, Sri reminded residents that the spread of HIV in Solo warranted more attention.

She said Solo has the third-highest number of known HIV/AIDS infections in Central Java. Health office data indicates that the number of known HIV/AIDS cases from October 2005 to the same month this year was 306, with 137 cases being HIV and 169 cases contracting full-blown AIDS. Eighty-two of those infected during that time are now deceased.

Sri said only 86 of those infected in living in Solo hold identity cards proving legal residency. The remainder are from other cities, with 43 of the known cases originating from the neighboring district of Sukoharjo.

She said at least 70,000 of the city’s 500,000 residents are considered to be in a high-risk group for the disease.

Sri said in the past, the red-light district had been concentrated in one area. But, she said, new prostitution centers had recently sprouted up across a broad area, such as a burgeoning red light district in the northern part of the city, known as Jalak Alley in Gilingan.

Sri said prostitution was rife across the city, with many places using legitimate businesses as a front. She said many massage parlors, billiard halls and brothels operating in private homes had cropped up. Sri said the decentralized sex trade was far more difficult for authorities to monitor and was a barrier for the city’s efforts, such as ensuring condoms are readily available, to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Indriyati Suparno, program manager for Women Solidarity for Humanity and Human Rights, an NGO for women and the protection of commercial sex workers, said the closure of red-light districts often makes it more difficult for prostitutes. “Health workers, from NGOs and the city, have trouble tracking them, let alone controlling them,” Indriyati said. “It is worse than when Silir was still open.”

She added that the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Solo had increased 25 percent in the past three months, though she could not provide hard data to support that claim.