Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The Ministry of Health has estimated that the number of people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Indonesia was recorded at 543,100 in 2020.

"HIV cases in Indonesia have now entered an epidemic period after decreasing in the number of cases, so that currently the country is concentrating on the prevalence of sufferers over the age of 15 years, which is 0.26 percent," Ministry’s Director for Prevention and Control on Directly Transmitted Diseases Siti Nadia Tarmizi said in a press briefing on the 2021 World AIDS Day here on Tuesday (Nov. 30).

According to her, only two provinces of Papua and West Papua have an expansion of the epidemic, yet it is still at a relatively low level at 1.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of new HIV infection cases in 2020 was 27,580 people or 47 percent, lower than that in 2010 which reached at least 48,000 cases every year.

In 2020, as many as 149,883 people in 502 districts/cities have received treatment and access to antiretroviral therapy (ARV), while 30,100 people with HIV were predicted to have died, with 10,103 cases of death reported.

In order to suppress the HIV infection cases, the government implements a program called STOP HIV, covering educational activities, as well as detecting and treatment.

Nadia hoped that through this program, the number of HIV sufferers in Indonesia would decline.

The HIV infection in the country, she added, was quite severe as only 70 percent of patients understand their health status, while those who are undergoing treatment are only 28 percent of the total cases.

Reporting by Indonesia Window