ADSENSE READY
HEALTH - The government is expected to continue providing antiretroviral (ARV) drugs free of charge to people with HIV / AIDS (PLWHA). Besides beneficial for people living with HIV, antiretroviral therapy also control the infection and spread of HIV / AIDS.
ARV treatment has been shown to reduce mortality in people living with HIV as a result of HIV. PLWHA who get ARV also proved not transmit the disease to others.
So far, the government provides free antiretroviral drugs for people living with HIV through a referral hospital. Quoted from Kompas Daily (11/29/2016) government allocated a budget of Rp 782 billion in 2016 for 70,000 patients with the stock for 18 months.
While the Global Fund ARV procurement in Indonesia in 2016 to Rp 17 billion. 2017, ARV procurement funds is estimated to increase to Rp 1.3 trillion to 138 000 users.
Aditya Ward, Director of the NGO Eksektif Indonesia AIDS Coalition, said the current number of people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy in Indonesia is only about 8 percent, or about 65 828 people living with HIV.
"This is the smallest number among the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore we always articulate the importance of the government to redouble its efforts to encourage residents to undergo HIV testing as early as possible and access to HIV treatment for people living with HIV," Aditya said in a press release.
He added that if the government does not immediately increase the number of such coverage, then Indonesia could become the country's most disadvantaged in controlling the AIDS epidemic in Asia and the Pacific region.
Aditya hope that the government still subsidizes fully for ARV drugs and ensure access to these drugs available evenly throughout Indonesia.
"It's a big challenge for the Minister of Health to convince the Ministry of Finance and the Parliament to provide consent for increased allocation of these subsidies so that the number of people who consume subsidized ARV drugs could be even greater, variations subsidized antiretroviral drugs that can circulate more and more," he said.
If ARV drugs are not subsidized, it is feared many PLWHA that would break up the drug and the risk of resistance or resistant to treatment. As a result, mortality rates and HIV transmission will also be increased
