Prostitutes Topped by Clients in Indonesian AIDS Rates

Thu, December 1, 2011



As the Indonesia marked World AIDS Day on Thursday, Surabaya received some shocking news: Entrepreneurs have overtaken sex workers as the largest group of people who have contracted the deadly disease in the city.

“From our records of almost a year, entrepreneurs and businessmen are now the largest number of [people living with AIDS], even compared to sex workers and housewives,” said Esti Martiana Rachmi, the head of the city’s health office.

The news is particularly striking given that Surabaya, the capital of East Java, is the home of Indonesia’s most infamous prostitution complex, Dolly, which has more than 300 brothels.

Esti said that businessmen and entrepreneurs topped the list of people living with AIDS in the city, followed by housewives and, in third place, sex workers.

She said the businessmen and entrepreneurs not only usually had more money but were also more mobile and therefore more prone to use the services of prostitutes.

Data from the city health office showed that in 2011, there were 560 people living with HIV/AIDS registered in the city with businessmen and entrepreneurs numbering 170.

Meanwhile Erwin Astha Triyono, from the State General Hospital in Surabaya, said that women, especially house-wives, still accounted for a large percentage of people with HIV/AIDS in Surabaya.

He said that in October, 47 new HIV/AIDS cases were registered in the city, and women accounted for 12 cases. From these 12 cases, two were pregnant women, he said.

“It is very difficult to protect housewives from HIV/AIDS. Especially when the source of the infection is the husband. It is, as we know, rare for husbands to be honest and confess that they use sex workers or are junkies,” Erwin said.

Experts have warned that the actual number of people carrying the virus is usually much higher than the official figures, as very few people are tested before developing symptoms and many refused to report infection to the authorities for fear of persecution and the stigma attached to it.



(according to the JG)