Strengthening role of teenagers in halting HIV/AIDS

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The spread of HIV/AIDS virus among the people from productive age group remains high in Indonesia.

In the East Java district of Jember, for instance, 69 percent of its residents with HIV/AIDS was in the productive ages of 25-49 years, teenagers accounted for 14 years old, and toddlers and elderly and 17 years old, spokesperson of the district`s health office Yumarlis said.

"HIV/AIDS patients in Jember are mostly in the productive age group. They are generally people who often use the services of prostitutes," he said.

Over the past six years, at least 36 HIV/AIDS patients in Jember district had died, he said.
At national level, the Health Ministry has noted 21,770 cases with a death toll of 4,128 people since April 1987.

Majority of the infected people was men as a result of heterosexual and bisexual relationship and injection drugs.

Due to its great impacts of the disease on the country`s economy and productivity, the fight against HIV/AIDS remains part of the government`s priority program.

However, the number of young people with comprehensive knowledge about this disease remains relatively low.

Secretary of the Indonesian Commission for AIDS Eradication Nafsiah Mboi has even revealed this fact in her article titled "AIDS Eradication Target by 2015" in Kompas` Wednesday daily edition.

Referring to the outcome of what she claimed as the latest survey, Nafsiah said only 14 percent of Indonesians of the 15-24 age group had comprehensive basic understanding about HIV.

Compared to the target of the UN Millennium Development Goals that percentage was so low because Indonesia had expected that 90 percent of 15-to-24-year-old Indonesians should have comprehensive basic knowledge about HIV, she said.

The depth of knowledge about HIV/AIDS is closely related to the access of children and teenagers to education.

Therefore, the increasing access to education for children and teenagers is believed to pave the way for the nation`s success in halting the growth of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia.

According to Director of World Vision Indonesia`s Campaign Division Asteria T Aritonang, education had evidently played an important role in halting the spread of the deadly disease.

"Education plays an important role in halting the threat of HIV/AIDS at national level. By increasing access to education, our younger generation can get knowledge and skills that enable them to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS," she said in a press statement.

In this connection, all stakeholders in the educational sector in Indonesia share an important role in creating young Indonesians` way of thinking about HIV/AIDS problems so that they can get rid of the deadly virus.

The younger generation`s role in helping the various stakeholders` efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS has been part of the World Vision Indonesia`s sustainable programs.

Along with its partner, Wahana Visi Indonesia, World Vision Indonesia had paid serious attention to the prevention of the HIV/AIDS spread among children and teenager groups, Aritonang said.

One of the sustainable and strategic programs that has been designed and developed at schools in various parts of the country is setting up junior high student peer groups.

Among towns and cities that already had student peer groups with the average age of 12 - 15 years were Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java), Sambas (West Kalimantan), Eruwok (Papua), Keerom (Papua), and Port Numbay (Jayapura), she said.

The student activists joining these peer groups were well trained to disseminate accurate information on all things related to HIV/AIDS virus and the ways to handle and get rid of it to the children of the same age group, Aritonang said.

The peer-to-peer approach is not only applied in Indonesia but also in such countries with relatively high prevalence rate as India.

This approach is, for instance, applied by those working for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in an effort to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in the South Asian country.

"Through this approach, members of at-risk groups -- sex workers, their clients and partners, high-risk men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users -- provide outreach within their own communities."

As revealed in the foundation`s official website, the trained peers would identify those who were at risk and assisted them by providing them with correct information on how to improve their attendance at recommended clinics and self-help programs.

The teenagers` role in halting the spread of HIV/AIDS is undoubtedly important.

However, the question that needs to be raised is how to increase the number of acknowledgable young people to enable this sexually-active age group to have a comprehensive understanding about HIV/AIDS and ways to avoid it, as well as make them consistent with the "no-sex-before-marriage" principle and have sex only with their spouses.

By:Rahmad Nasution-Antara