The effort of the Papua legislative council to draft an ordinance that would require microchips be implanted in people living with HIV/AIDS so the authorities could monitor their personal activities is hard proof of the common ignorance among Indonesia politicians of the HIV epidemic.
A recent HIV-risk behavioral surveillance survey in Papua found HIV is potentially spreading in the province at a rate 15 times above the national average and tragically nearly half of the population of the province have never heard of HIV/AIDS.
Now it is quite clear ignorance is found among ordinary people in remote areas in Papua, but ignorance is also rife among local political elites.
We can assume such defiance also prevails among elites in other provinces and even in Jakarta.
It is ironic the deliberation of the draft ordinance came as the largest scientific conference on HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region took place in Sydney last week.
Sudirman Nasir, Melbourne
The conference noted the global scientific community and pharmaceutical industries had made significant progress in developing highly effective new treatments for HIV/AIDS.
The virus has become a more manageable long-term condition as opposed to a death sentence. However, the conference emphasized comprehensive prevention programs, particularly among high-risk groups in developing countries.
The conference advocated the urgency of biomedical and public health evidence-based approaches to the pandemic. The ordinance being deliberated by the Papua legislature is exactly the opposite of this approach.
John Manansang, a member of the working group deliberating the ordinance, in defense of the draft ordinance, says the regulation would help the government control the virus spread by monitoring the movements and activities of people with HIV/AIDS.
The microchips, according to the draft ordinance, will be implanted in people with the virus who engage in high-risk behaviors, such as unprotected sex or sharing of needles (The Jakarta Post, July 24).
Fortunately, many HIV/AIDS activists, public health practitioners and even the enlightened government officials are opposing the draft regulation, calling it irrational, irresponsible and a gross violation of human rights.
We do not need to be an expert to spot the flaws of this draft ordinance anyway.
Abundant studies across the world show that HIV/AIDS cases can be reduced through persuasive public health programs that promote safer behaviors, including refraining from having multiple sex partners and injecting drugs, using condoms and sterile needles if they do inject.
There is no evidence that fascist intrusion or taking control of someone's personal life can reduce the epidemic.
Instead of reducing HIV transmission, such personal intrusion would potentially exacerbate the stigma and discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS.
It would no doubt discourage them from applying for medical access and proper treatment.
The most successful countries to overcome the HIV/AIDS epidemic include West Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. These countries can provide an example that a respect of human rights is a crucial element for the effective prevention of HIV/AIDS prevention and the upkeep of appropriate care programs.
Such fascist regulations may trigger moral panic and will deny the fact that HIV is not easily transmitted.
HIV can only be transmitted through blood contact, sexual contact and trans-placental transmission (from mother to baby) and cannot be transmitted through social contact.
Such moral panic will worsen discrimination, prompt human rights violations and hinder prevention as well as care programs for people with HIV/AIDS.
The ridiculous draft regulation can be viewed as a result of a weak coordination between government agencies in Indonesia.
Head of the Papua chapter of the National AIDS Commission, Constant Karma, and head of Papua health agency Bagus Sukaswara said they had not been consulted by the councilors regarding the controversial article on microchips.
Suwaskara admitted that although his office had proposed the draft ordinance on healthcare, there was no recommendation made on the intrusion of people's private life with the virus.
Ignorance displayed by many politicians toward real public health problems like HIV/AIDS provide evidence that the enlightened NGOs activists, public health practitioners and researchers face an uphill task of advocating public health evidence-based approaches to combat the epidemic.
The writer was involved in several HIV prevention programs in South Sulawesi and is currently pursuing a doctorate degree at the Key Centre for Women's Health, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Australia.
