Submitted on: October 28, 1993
               
Copied without permission, but a World Leader speaks out!


Suharto calls for serious handlding to prevent Aids spreads
   JAKARTA (UPI) -- President Suharto, anxious to spare his country a sharp 
increase in the number of people infected with the AIDS virus, is calling for 
more aggressive efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, a senior cabinet 
minister said.
   Suharto's chief concern is that a prevention program "must be handled 
serious to avoid the repetition of what happened in Thailand," Peoples' Welfare 
Minister Azwar Anas told reporters after a meeting with the president.
   "The government had sent a coordinated team to Thailand in an attempt 
conduct research about the AIDS problem," Anas said.
   Anas said 174 people in Indonesia have contracted the Human Immunodeficiency 
Virus that causes Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a fatal condition that 
robs the body of its ability to fight off other diseases, since it was first 
detected in 1987. Of those, 24 have died and 36 others are suffering from 
full-blown AIDS.
   But two months ago, Health Minister Suyudi estimated that number may 
actually be up to 15,000.
   Without properly applied prevention programs, Anas said health officials 
fear the number of HIV-infected Indonesians "could potentially jump up to 
500,000 in 1995 like to that in Thailand."
   Medical researchers in that country have estimated that up to 450,000 Thais 
are now infected with the AIDS virus.
   Indonesian officials have announced plans to set up a national body which 
will pull together various agencies to battle the disease.
   The government has urged the nation's leaders to become active in providing 
information about the dangers of contracting the AIDS virus and plans to enlist 
the aid of pimps to educate prostitutes about the disease and now to prevent 
infection.
   Health officials have said AIDS is spreading more quickly in Asia because of 
changes in cultural and moral values and sexual norms brought on by the 
increase in tourism.
   In an efforts to detect carriers of the HIV virus, the authorities are 
expanding blood testing this year on 150,000 people in high risk groups and 
also on 700,000 regular blood donors with the Indonesian Red Cross.