AIDS Trend Increases in Indonesia

I can well remember when AIDS first came to the fore rumours abound that you could catch the disease by just kissing and I can recall those awful Grim Reaper advertisements on the television.

Since those years the actualities as to how AIDS is transferred from one being to the next has been thankfully made clearer but it doesn't seem to have had much affect throughout the world with an AIDS epidemic ever present. I was astounded yesterday to read that Indonesia has recorded an increasing trend in AIDS cases with a total of 5,823 cases during the period of 1996 to March 2006. According to Antara News Agency, of the total number of AIDS patients, 80.9 percent were men and the remaining 18.1 percent were women.

The country recorded 1,172 cases of AIDS in 2002, 1,488 cases in 2003, 2,683 in 2004, and 5,321 cases in 2005. The majority of AIDS patients are aged between 20 years old and 29 years old which shows that although the government has implemented comprehensive and integrated programs to prevent AIDS, the advice is not being heeded.

It is all well and good thinking that you will not contract AIDS but you do not know who your partner's previous sexual encounters were with. Therefore it makes common sense when you are travelling in Indonesia to carry condoms if you are contemplating sexual relations.

One word of advice - bring condoms with you from your own country. Indonesian condoms are unreliable and have a tendency to tear. So, when you are packing your bags for your trip to Bali, chuck in a packet of raincoats!. It will prevent the misery of dying slowly of a contracted disease.