People Living with AIDS Rejected Because of Poor Education
Many have limited understanding on HIV/AIDS transmission, leading to the widespread stigmatization and rejection of people living with AIDS. Massive education and information dissemination is required by all relevant social, education and health agencies.
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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Many have limited understanding on HIV/AIDS transmission, leading to the widespread stigmatization and rejection of people living with AIDS. Massive education and information dissemination is required by all relevant social, education and health agencies.
Proper education on HIV/AIDS transmission is key to removing public stigmas. One example is that the illness cannot spread through physical contact (including hugging), mosquito bites and swimming in the same pool.
“HIV infection can only occur by sexual intercourse, using the same syringes, blood transfusion and pregnancy. People must not be worried about interacting with [people with] AIDS. We need to mainstream this understanding,” Health Ministry director of prevention and control of direct infectious diseases Wiendra Waworuntu said in Jakarta on Sunday (2/12/2018).
According to Wiendra, lack of education and understanding has led to the lack of full acceptance of people with AIDS. Discrimination against AIDS is commonplace.
Recently, news spread of a student with HIV/AIDS being rejected for enrollment by several schools. The student has had to move schools several times after it was found out that he had HIV/AIDS. He was also shunned by his friends.
A similar case happened to three students with HIV/AIDS in Samosir, North Sumatra. They were rejected by public schools in the region, even though two of them had no problems going to an elementary school before and the other having graduated from elementary school and enrolled at a middle school. (Kompas, 24/10/2018).
Comprehensive cooperation
Wiendra said that a comprehensive cooperation between regional governments, medical workers, as well as education and social agencies would be necessary in educating the public.
“Everyone must continuously improve people’s awareness. Another important thing is prevention,” she said.
Health Ministry data on HIV/AIDS projection and estimation in 2017 shows that there are 631,635 people living with AIDS in Indonesia. Since the virus was first found in Indonesia in 1987, 433 regencies and cities have reported 301,596 HIV cases (47 percent of the AIDS estimation for 2018) as of June 2018. The five provinces with the highest HIV prevalence are Jakarta (55,099), East Java (43,399), West Java (31,293), Papua (30,699) and Central Java (24,757).
Wiendra said Indonesia aimed to stop its AIDS epidemic by 2030. Therefore, the government must continue its STOP campaign.
“The STOP campaign includes suluh [educate] to prevent the disease, temukan [find] AIDS sufferers and give them immediate treatment, obati [cure] AIDS with proper and routine medication and pertahankan [sustain the lives of] AIDS patients with proper medical treatments,” she said.
In Surabaya, East Java, on World AIDS Day on Saturday (1/12), Surabaya chapter head Ary Widhyasti Bandem of the Indonesian Society of Dermatology and Veneorology (ISDV) said the public should be actively involved in HIV/AIDS campaigns. This is good for preventing HIV/AIDS and treating those who have contracted the disease.