Manado Infected with HIV/AIDS at 20 through 30 in Indonesia

Manado, Indonesia (News Today) - The health office in Manado, North Sulawesi, supported by the Global Fund and AIDS Reduction Commission, keeps campaigning on threat and danger of HIV/AIDS in certain high-risk locations in Manado city, a local official has said.

"High-risk locations which become the targets of the counseling on this deadly virus are nightclubs, ’red light areas’, and schools," head of Manados’s health office Yvonne Kaunang said here Thursday.

Those locations were chosen because they are the most vulnerable places to HIV transmission hence the campaign is directly given to the high-risk infected people, she explained. Meanwhile, head of Manado’s disease reduction and environmental health Joy Zeekeon said the campaign was periodically conducted together with AIDS Care NGO to keep reminding people especially those of the younger generation about HIV/AIDS threat and danger.

He said schools in Manado city were also targeted because based on data the infected people included those who are aged 20 to 30 years old. It means that they were infected when they were still studying at schools so the campaign for transmission prevention was directed to students at schools in order to break the chain of HIV/AIDS transmission, Zeekeon noted.

He said the counseling was periodically done at schools in Manado city. The intensive campaign was even conducted during August to September 2010 due to the increasing number of HIV infected people and those with AIDS in Manado. The HIV/AIDS campaign was also done in Manado’s penitentiary because the people living here with unhealthy lifestyle, Zeekeon said.

"The drugs convicts who also like to make tattoo are very susceptible on HIV/AIDS therefore we do the campaign here and hope everyone can be aware of avoiding the disease because the medicine is not available," Zeekeon noted.

The newest data showed the number of HIV infected and people with AIDS are 251 and most of them are in productive ages between 20 and 30 years old.

Source : kompas

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