JAKARTA – The number of people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease in Indonesia has reached 543,100 people. This figure was recorded until the end of 2020. The condition of HIV disease in Indonesia has now entered an epidemic period after experiencing a decrease in the number of cases.
“So far, the prevalence of HIV sufferers over the age of 15 is 0.26 percent,” said Director of Prevention and Control of Directly Transmitted Diseases at the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi in Jakarta, Tuesday (30/11).
Only two areas experienced an expanding epidemic. Namely, Papua and West Papua. However, the expansion is still at a low level. The figure reached 1.8 percent.
Then in the distribution of the estimated number of new HIV infections, in 2020 as many as 27,580 new people are estimated to be infected with HIV. Nationally, the estimated distribution of infections is 47 percent lower than in 2010 which reached around 48,000 cases annually.
“Actually, this number has dropped considerably compared to 2010. At that time, Indonesia had a new infection rate of 48,000 each year,” explained Nadia.
With details in 2020, as many as 149,883 people spread across 502 districts or cities have received treatment and access antiretroviral therapy (ARV). Of that number, 30,100 people living with HIV (PLHIV) died. A total of 10,103 deaths were reported to the Ministry of Health.
“Indonesia must be able to continue to find new cases of infection. So that it can suppress the rate of increase in HIV cases even higher. To suppress it, the government has a STOP HIV program that carries four aspects, namely Suluh, Find, Treat, Maintain,” he explained.
Through this program, he continued, it is hoped that the number of HIV sufferers in Indonesia will soon be reduced. That is through providing education, helping the community to know their HIV status and getting ARV therapy that can reduce the rate of cases.(rh / fin)
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