Health News
2007-07-21
Indonesia to
increase AIDS funding by nearly 300%
Indonesia will
nearly quadruple the amount of money it spends on
fighting AIDS over the next three years, with the major
Indonesia will
nearly quadruple the amount of money it spends on
fighting AIDS over the next three years, with the major
focus on its hardest-hit Papua province, the welfare
minister said.
Indonesia has one
of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000
infections in a population of 235 million people, fueled
mainly by injecting drug users and prostitution.
Health
authorities have warned that a failure to take prompt action
in areas like Papua, where infections are 15 times the
national average, could result in 1 million people
infected with HIV within a few years.
Welfare minister
Aburizal Bakrie said late Thursday the government would
increase the amount of money budgeted for the AIDS fight
from $67 million last year to $263 million
by 2010.
The government
also wants to reduce its dependency on international
donors, which have contributed up to 70% of the national
AIDS budget, he said.
The main focus of
the new spending would be on Papua, which now receives
only 4% of the money budgeted for AIDS. (AP)
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