Overview - Fighting HIV/AIDS
Recent years have seen a sharp acceleration in the HIV/AIDS epidemic across Indonesia. Once driven primarily by intravenous drug users and commercial sex workers, the current epidemic places Indonesia’s youth at increasing risk. By 2010, an estimated 110,000 people in Indonesia will be suffering or will have died from AIDS and another million will be HIV-positive. While HIV prevalence among pregnant women who underwent testing is under 3 per cent, reliable data for the general population is lacking. Stigma, discrimination and ignorance are major barriers. In 2003, a third of young women and a fifth of young men in the 15-24 years age group had never heard of HIV/AIDS. The situation is worsened further by low access to anti-retroviral drugs. Trends indicate that Indonesia is at risk from a larger scale epidemic in the near future. The alarming increase in HIV infection among high-risk groups in several parts of the country is one indication of a potential increase across the country. Raising awareness and knowledge of this communicable disease, primarily through public education and advocacy, is crucial to the chances of stopping the spread of the epidemic. Otherwise, prevailing stigmas, discrimination and ignorance will remain major hurdles to any preventative effort. (Read about UNICEF's response for Fighting HIV/AIDS in Indonesia)
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