Denpasar (Lampost.co): Information dissemination currently requires adaptation efforts by increasing stakeholder and public understanding of HIV/AIDS. Community support is badly needed to be actively involved in assisting people exposed to HIV/AIDS to live a life of dignity.
“We are currently still dealing with the plight of the public who have not been able to integrate themselves and HIV/AIDS patients into the structure of our society. This is the problem we are facing right now,” said the Advisory Council Vice-Chair of Indonesian People’s Assembly, Lestari Moerdiijat at the opening of an online discussion on Toward AIDS-Free Indonesia 2030 to be held by Discussion Forum Denpasar 12, Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
The debate moderated by Anggiasari Puji Aryatie (Expert Vice President of Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly Coordinator for Absorption of Community and Regional Aspirations) introduced Drg. hj. Hasnah Syams, MARS (Member of Commission IX DPR RI), dr. Imran Pambudi, MPHM (Director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Indonesian Ministry of Health) and Nurul Saadah Andriani, SH, MH (Director of the Center for the Defense of Women, Disabled and Children’s Advocacy Foundation/SAPDA) as human resources.
Besides that, Putri Khatulistiwa (Community of Practice Officer of Cycle Indonesia) and Muhammad Syafi’I (President of NGO KDS Jepara Plus Foundation) were present as rescuers.
According to Lestari, the fact that Indonesia is one of the five countries with the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in Southeast Asia should be of concern to all parties, steadily increasing various efforts to prevent infectious diseases in the country.
“How to conduct public awareness and engage the community to participate in problem solving, so that people with HIV/AIDS can live a decent life in society, this really needs to be done,” said Rerie, Lestari’s nickname .
Because, according to Rerie, who is also a member of the X DPR RI Commission of Electoral II of Central Java, the problem that the world is currently facing is not only the understanding of AIDS, but the world public still thinks that AIDS must be covered and the sick receive social sanctions.
Thus, according to NasDem party upper house member, the HIV/AIDS-related problems faced decades ago are still a big and real problem in today’s society.
Therefore, Rerie stressed, various adaptation efforts are needed amid the various changes that are taking place, particularly in relation to the control of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS.
DPR RI Commission IX member Hasnah Syams believes that to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission in the community, it is necessary to focus on vulnerable groups in society, such as women, children and pregnant women.
According to Hasnah, government efforts to suppress HIV/AIDS through various policies that encourage improved services and treatments must be implemented.
Aside from that, Hasnah said, no less important is ensuring the availability of HIV drugs in the regions.
According to Hasnah, the Ministry of Health’s strategy to address HIV/AIDS in the country through the fire, find, cure and maintain strategy needs to be carried out consistently.
As a representative of the people, Hasnah pledges to support various efforts to fight HIV/AIDS through the availability of budgets and infrastructure proposed by the government.
Indonesian Health Ministry Director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Imran Pambudi revealed that the government has currently decentralized HIV/AIDS services to the Puskesmas so that they are closer and easier to access to the community.
With a goal of screening 5.2 million pregnant women annually, Imran said, currently his party has screened about 2.5 million pregnant women for HIV/AIDS through the application of a combined antigen that also detects syphilis.
With these efforts, Imran hopes the government can detect and anticipate the transmission by intervening sooner.
The tasks for all of us right now, Imran said, are how people with HIV/AIDS who already know they are positive and are taking medication can consistently take medication so that the virus can be suppressed.
According to Imran, the government continues to fight for equality in HIV/AIDS services for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children.
SAPDA Foundation director Nurul Saadah Andriani revealed that many people are unaware that they are exposed to HIV/AIDS, so this condition poses a risk to themselves and their environment.
Because HIV/AIDS, according to Nurul, is closely related to reproductive health problems. Therefore, people with HIV/AIDS also spread rapidly.
In Yogyakarta, Nurul said, the population group most exposed to HIV/AIDS was recorded from 1993 to 2021 between the ages of 20 and 29. In fact, he said, children and people with disabilities in Yogyakarta have also been exposed to HIV/AIDS.
According to Nurul, joint efforts are needed to prevent wider transmission by increasing public understanding of HIV/AIDS.
Cycle Indonesia’s community of practice officer Putri Khatulistiwa believes that talking about HIV/AIDS is closely related to reproductive health.
The obstacle currently being faced, Putri said, is related to the stigma against HIV-positive people leading to acts of discrimination against certain groups of people.
Putri added that the myths that have developed about HIV/AIDS have caused people to misunderstand information about HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
To overcome this obstacle, Putri revealed, his party is trying to build a network with content creators to socialize issues related to gender, disability, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.
By using various existing media to convey accurate information about HIV/AIDS, Putri hopes that a number of stigmas that have the potential to create discrimination can be suppressed.
The head of the Jepara Plus KDS Foundation, Muhammad Syafi’I, said the understanding of the Jepara community regarding HIV/AIDS is still lacking, especially among lower-class people living in rural areas.
Syafi’i felt that there was a lack of HIV/AIDS socialization at the Jepara district level, because only a few people were involved in the socialization process.
As a result, Syafi’i stressed, the stigma surrounding discrimination against HIV-positive people in Jepara district is still strong.
Syafi’i hopes that all parties will work together soon to remove this stigma. Apart from that, she added, government support related to funding HIV/AIDS treatment is eagerly awaited.
At the end of the discussion, senior journalist Saur Hutabarat argued that for people exposed to HIV/AIDS to have the opportunity to live like normal people through continued care, it needs to be socialized.
This effort, Saur added, should be able to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS treatment failure.
According to Saur, various policies in an attempt to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, such as the use of condoms, are realistic measures that can be applied at this time.
Adi Sunaryo
