A fast-track to end the AIDS epidemic

published on December 1, 2015 by J.V.R. Prasada Rao, New Delhi, in The Jakarta Post

Home to the third-largest number of people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific, Indonesia is a country critical to ending the AIDS epidemic in the region and on this World AIDS Day we are at a defining moment.

Only three decades since HIV arrived in this country, we can begin to close the chapter on one of modern history’s worst epidemics. In September, Indonesia was one of 193 United Nations member states to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals and commit to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

This goal is certainly ambitious but it is achievable. Even without a vaccine or a cure, we know how to stop HIV. Indonesia can pride itself on being a pathfinder in the AIDS epidemic on the global stage.

In 2013 the Indonesian government launched the Strategic Use of AIDS (SUFA) policy — a pioneering strategy that made antiretroviral treatment available immediately for any person diagnozed with HIV. Providing early treatment has the double advantage of keeping people living with HIV healthy and stopping further transmission of the virus. Last month, the World Health Organization endorsed a similar policy for all countries.

The program has now been rolled out in 75 districts. The number of ART sites has more than doubled since 2008 and more than 50 000 people were accessing HIV treatment in 2014, compared with less than 2 500 in 2005. The program is a good indication of how the Indonesian government has sought new and innovative approaches in responding to HIV, and is one of the first in Asia to use treatment as prevention in reducing HIV transmission.

At the end of 2014, just a year and a half after the SUFA program was launched, HIV testing has reached slightly more than 1 million people, which is more than five times the number tested in 2010. There has been a massive expansion of prevention services, including condom distribution in key locations and harm reduction programs for people who inject drugs.

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A fast-track to end the AIDS epidemic

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