What is the main cause of HIV transmission in Indonesia?
THERESIA NAFSIAH MBOI: Drug injection and free sex. In Jakarta and East Java province, more than 60 percent of HIV transmission is by drug injection. In Papua, 94 percent of HIV transmission is from free sex. How serious is the HIV and AIDS situation in Indonesia? In 2006, there were 169,230 people with HIV or AIDS. In December 2007, the number was 193,070 out of a total population of 227,779,100 in Indonesia. The percentage is small, about 0.1 percent, but people should be careful because many of Indonesia’s people are young. AIDS and narkoba [Indonesian acronym for narcotics, psychotropic and addictive substances] addiction have increased rapidly within the past few years. The increase in intravenous drug users (IDUs) made HIV and AIDS cases jump about 40 percent from 2000 to 2005. If the number of IDUs did not increase, however, there would be only small numbers of people with HIV and AIDS. IDUs in 2006 totaled 220,000. With such a high number of IDUs, it is predicted that in 2020 t
