Increasing child/youth AIDS infection in Merauke

At least 113 young people, under 20 years old, from Merauke regency in Papua province have been infected by HIV/AIDS since they were in wombs of their mothers, officials told Antara newsagency. Head of Merauke's HIV/AIDS Controlling Commission (KPAD) Waryono said 26 of them age up to 4 years, six age between 5 to 9 years and 81 others age between 10 to 19 years.

Meanwhile, the number of reported cases of adults with HIV/AIDS has now reached 639. Waryono, who is also Merauke deputy regent, blames the large number on "permissive sex", Antara reported.

WHO recognises danger to Papuans of HIV/AIDs

According to the World Health Organisation, Indonesia faces a growing AIDS problem, particularly among drug users and prostitutes, while a recent survey shows two percent of the Papua population infected with HIV.

According to Reuters, the WHO report highlighted a growing concern over HIV cases in the remote eastern area of Papua, where it said a recent survey showed that prevalence of HIV in the general population was 20 times the national average and two percent were infected with HIV. The report said there was "recent evidence of a generalised epidemic" in Papua and cited the undeveloped health care system and a lack of resources to cope with the problem.

The term "Papua" used by Reuters appears to refer to both Indonesian provinces on New Guinea island and not specifically Papua province.

HIV/AIDS in neighbouring Papua New Guinea

The Government of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea has rejected a report which predicted that up to a quarter of the nation's population could be infected with HIV/ AIDS by 2020 and up to a million people could die of AIDS and HIV. The report, released online (pdf format) by the Australian Centre for Independent Studies, argues that if HIV prevention measures are not increased, the virus could have a negative impact on the country's economy and labor force.

It estimates that 118,000 people, or 2% of the population, living in Papua New Guinea are HIV-positive and that HIV prevalence will be 18% by 2010 and 25% by 2020.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the virus is spread mainly through heterosexual contact. Miranda Tobias, report author and a research fellow at CIS, said that young women in the country are being targeted by residents who believe that HIV is spread through witchcraft. Tobias said that there were about 500 attacks on women in the past year that involved torture, sometimes for days, to obtain "confessions" from the women and that some of the attacks resulted in murder.

The government has not acknowledged the "actual and potential dimensions of the spread of HIV/AIDS and its effects," Tobias said, adding, "the problem has been coming for a while, and it is snowballing." The country has other health care problems, including the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world and a lack of running water in some hospitals, Tobias said.

However Papua New Guinea's Health Minister Peter Barter told Xinhua that the report's HIV prevalence projections are for the "worst possible scenario," but the "fact is that we don't have the worst scenario in Papua New Guinea."

AusAID funds HIV prevention in Papua province

From Asian Football Business Review

Papua province’s famous Persipura football club - Indonesian Premier League champions in 2005 - is promoting HIV prevention to over a million people. Around Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's eastern-most province, billboards display the Persipura team with slogans such as, ‘Be a champion, wear a condom’. Posters with the same message travel the province every day on the back of minibus seats. Before and during live football broadcasts, radio announcers present HIV-prevention messages and promote safe sex. On television, viewers can see Persipura striker Boas Salossa and popular Papuan singer Edo Kondologit chatting about responsible sexual behaviour and the importance of using condoms.

Persipura players and their managers also wear ‘Persipura champions’ shirts emblazoned with the HIV-awareness campaign logo – a condom holding a football. The shirts are highly prized by fans, especially since the team has started wearing them off the field. Thousands of identical shirts will soon be distributed to the 2,500 junior players in the Persipura football club.Free condoms are given out at football matches.

Communications adviser Sara Knuckey told AusAID Focus, "there’s no point talking about condoms unless people know what they are, how to use them, and can get hold of them easily. By distributing condoms over the next two seasons, we’re hoping people will start asking for them. Condom use in Indonesia is low compared with other countries so we need to popularise their use. This is why our partnership with Persipura is so important. The team can help us educate young males about HIV transmission before they are sexually active. We have to get across the message that everyone must 'act responsibly and wear a condom'", she said.

And just to make sure the safe sex message is never far from anyone’s mind, a large football-toting inflatable condom in Persipura team colours will float above the grounds, starting with the first game of the 2007 season. The next stage of the campaign is peer education. Former and current Persipura players are training as AIDS ambassadors. They’ll work with younger players to improve fitness and football skills but they’ll also teach them about sexuality and safe sex practices.

According to the AusAID-funded Indonesia HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project, the population estimate for Papua as of end 2005 was 2.5 million people while the estimated numbers of people with HIV is 11 042. The epidemic is more generalized than in other parts of Indonesia and reflects a Melanesian style epidemic as compared to a traditional Asian epidemic. HIV has been found in coastal as well as highland populations, in cities as well as villages, and is found in people who are not from the usual vulnerable populations of sex workers, IDU or men who have sex with men. Injection drug use seems to be relatively uncommon and transmission through injecting illicit drugs has not made a significant contribution to the epidemic.

STI are endemic in Papua with high rates of antibiotic resistance, and limited health infrastructure to manage this effectively. Population level knowledge about HIV and its prevention through condom use, is low. Condom availability is also low. Other contributing factors to the epidemic in Papua include lack of circumcision and a long history of accepted cultural practices that now facilitate HIV transmission.

The Australian Government is supporting the multimedia campaign through a A$3.15 million grant during 2006-07. Disbursements of these funds to NGOs in Papua province include Palang Merah Indonesia (Red Cross) A$241,734, Yayasan Kesehatan Bethesda (Church-based health foundation) A$384,929 and DKT Indonesia (provider of condoms) A$500,000.The central govenment owned Radio Republik Indonesia Jayapura receives A$66,594 as well as RRI Wamena A$29,867.

According to kangguru.org the RRI stations carry a weekly radio program called Mari Kitorang Bertanggung Jawab (MKBJ - Let Us Be Responsible) to provide information about HIV/AIDS, to improve people's awareness and to ask people to be responsible about HIV/AIDS. "Other very successful activities included cooperation with the Panitia Pelaksana (Implementing Committee) of the Indonesian Football League. Every match played by Persipura - the Jayapura Football Team - is broadcast live on RRI. Volunteers distribute information about HIV/AIDS and the football commentators announce HIV/AIDS information to the spectators.

"The football team itself, Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura (Persipura), is allocated an Australian grant of A$26,979 for the period.


UPDATE (4 February 2007)

We wrote to the Australia's first Special Representative for HIV/AIDS and the Deputy Director General of AusAID, Annmaree O'Keefe, and asked if her organisation will be doing anything similar in Papua Barat as that province is represented in the Indonesian Premier League by Perseman Manokwari football club. She has yet to respond.

Interview with Papua Governor Jaap Solossa

Papua Governor Jaap Solossa talked with Ridwan Max Sijabat of The Jakarta Post after leading a Papuan delegation to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to discuss the situation in Indonesia's most eastern province.

Question: Would you like to summarize your delegation's meeting with the President?"

Answer: The President and our delegation were of the same opinion that the special autonomy regulated by Law No. 21/2001 is the main pillar of a grand strategy to seek a comprehensive solution to the complex Papua issue.

The President promised to make a fundamental decision to prove his strong political commitment to settling the issue through peaceful dialog, and instructed his aides to take concrete measures to enforce the special autonomy law.

He was very glad to meet with us, and shared his intention to fully implement the special autonomy, which was left untouchable during former president Megawati Soekarnoputri's tenure, over the last three years.

Q: Would you like to explain that issue in detail?

A: During the meeting, the President instructed the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs (Widodo A.S.) and home minister (Moh. Ma'ruf) to discuss the draft regulation on the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP), and to make the necessary preparations for its establishment. The implementation was delayed because it was feared that it could pave the way for the province to separate from Indonesia in the future.

The establishment of the MRP has been included in the President's first 100-day program, and he pledged that the MRP's establishment would be his "Christmas gift" to the Papuan people.

The President also promised to set up a Papua desk at the Presidential Office to deal with Papua matters. The special desk, led by the President and consisting of Papuan figures, military officials and politicians would mainly be tasked with preparing necessary policies and development programs in Papua.

Q: What is your comment on the controversial draft regulation on the MRP?

A: It is not really controversial because it is based on the special autonomy law. And what makes Papua special, unique and different from other provinces is the MRP, which according to the law is the highest decision-making institution, representing all components in the province.

Megawati and her former government declined to approve it, and to set up the long-awaited MRP, because they feared that the institution would be used to assist the province's separation from Indonesia.

But, if Acehnese people are allowed to adopt the sharia according to Islam, why aren't we allowed to do the same thing? (The majority of Papuans are Christians.)

Q: How is the planned formation of the two new provinces progressing?

A: The President has agreed to review the controversial Presidential Instruction, No. 1/2003, which was issued to enforce Law No. 45/1999 on the development of North Maluku, West and Central Irian Jaya provinces, which is no longer effective since it is against the special autonomy law.

Papuan people are not against any idea to form four or five more provinces in Papua, which is 3.5 times the size of Java Island. However it should gain approval from the MRP.

The Papuan provincial legislature has filed a law suit against the presidential instruction, and the Constitutional Court is scheduled to make a decision on the case on November 11.

The Higher Administrative Court has annulled Presidential Decree No. 10/2003 on the extension of Octavianus Abram Atururi's one- year period as acting governor of West Irian Jaya.

Q: What other issues are most urgent in Papua?

A: Illegal logging, illegal fishing and HIV/AIDS. And the three issues correlate with one another.

Illegal logging and illegal fishing activities have been rampant in the province because the region is out of the close supervision of the public in Jakarta. The looting of Papua's rich resources involves timber and fishing companies from Malaysia and Thailand. They are backed by security personnel from local Navy units and police offices.

Timber barons have paid police personnel to back the illegal logging activities, which have involved local loggers. It is also common for them to offer sex workers from Java as presents for local informal leaders, to keep their mouths closed. The timber barons also bribed local Navy units to escort their log vessels out of the province.

The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has reached around 15,000 at present, and most of them are living in the southern part of the province, particularly in Mimika and Merauke regencies, where illegal logging and fishing activities have been rampant.

Q: What are you doing to address these serious problems?

A: During the meeting with the President, we asked the government to lift the joint decree issued by the forestry minister, fisheries and maritime affairs minister, the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander and the National Police chief, concerning the supervision of forest and maritime resources (wanalaga and wanabahari) in the province.

Corrupt officials of the National Police and the Navy in the province abused their power and manipulated the joint decree to loot the province's resources.

Most Papuan people are no longer sympathetic toward the security authorities because many innocent people have been shot in military operations and their resources looted.

The provincial government will intensify the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign among youths and school students aged between ten years and 18 years to curb the spread of the virus.