The spread of HIV infections in Papua is alarming, with those in remote
regions being deprived of transportation facilities reported to have
contracted the disease.
“Two years ago I received information
that people with HIV had been found in Puncak regency. It was proof that
the disease had already reached villages difficult to reach by modes of
transportation,” Constant Karma, chairman of Papua AIDS Mitigation
Commission (KPAD), said during the launch of an anti-AIDS campaign in
Jayapura on Friday.
He said that transmission of the HIV virus
looked to be uncontrollable as his commission had constantly received
reports of new cases.
As many as 21 people, between the ages of
19 and 49, were reported to have been treated for the virus at Dian
Harapan Hospital in Jayapura in June, in addition to 84 cases recorded
between January and May.
“The same period last year, we had 56
cases. That’s an indication that HIV cases are increasing rapidly,”
Bruder Agus Adil, head of the hospital’s Voluntary Counseling and
Testing (VCT), said.
HIV spread in Papua, according to Constant,
is transmitted through unsafe sexual intercourse, which constitutes 90
percent of the current 12,187 cases.