Ministry Of Health: 407 Students In Bandung Who Have HIV Accumulation For 31 Years

Illustration. A mother queues for HIV tests at the Semen Health Center, Kediri, East Java, December 2021. (Antara-Prasetia F)

BANDUNG - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) revealed that as many as 407 students in the city of Bandung, West Java, who reportedly have HIV diseases, were an accumulation rate for 31 years.

"So, the data is the number of accumulations since 1991, not 1 year data. This case is cumulative for 31 years," said the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, who was confirmed, Monday, August 29.

Based on data from HIV sufferers compiled by the Ministry of Health from 1991 to August 2022 in the city of Bandung, said Maxi, a total of 10,700 cases, as many as 407 were experienced by high-risk groups from students.

He said the trend of increasing cases per year in Kembang City was relatively not too high. The highest achievement ever reported occurred in 2019 reaching 25 cases a year.

"If you look at the average per year, only 11 cases or per month 1 case. If you look at it, in a year there are 11-12 cases, it is necessary to anticipate, because one person is infected in the population is very heterogenous, for example on campus, it needs attention from all parties, especially local governments," he said.

Based on national HIV epidemiological data, said Maxi, the highest number of cases was in DKI Jakarta, around 90,900 cases, followed by East Java, West Java, Central Java, Papua, Bali, North Sumatra, Banten, South Sulawesi, and Riau Islands.

Maxi said the West Java Provincial Government and the Bandung City Government were regions that had a very good HIV/AIDS response program nationally.

One of them, based on the results of case tracking that is consistently rolling every year, the average exceeds 75 percent of the targets for finding patients and handling treatment.

"The city of Bandung is very intensive in screening, especially in the key population, one of which is students," he said.

All findings of HIV/AIDS cases in the area, said Maxi, are treated using Antiarjadiral (ARV) to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, inhibit the worsening of opportunistic infections, improve the quality of life for HIV sufferers, and reduce the number of viruses (viral loads) in the blood until it is not detected.

The Ministry of Health encourages all local governments to intensify case tracking targeting a number of key populations, including sex men with men (NPL), commercial sex workers (PSK), and students.

"The highest percentage key population, namely LSL, reaches 49-50 percent," he said.

In addition, it is also necessary to be aware of HIV transmission in pregnant women following the findings of cases in West Java reaching 14 percent. "The most important thing is that tracking in the key population needs education so that there is awareness of testing," he said.

According to Maxi, awareness is important so that people with HIV understand the risk of disease so that they access treatment services to maintain quality of life.