Nat|ona| Condom Week cance||ed

Debates have raged in the United States in recent years about the place oI preventative sex
education Ior the youth oI the country but it`s not the only place that has witnessed this
dialogue. Indonesia has also had a strong conservative reaction to the promotion oI condoms
as preventative measures in the Iight against HIV.
Many religious conservative groups in the country, made up oI a chain oI islands which sit
between Australia and Thailand, have resisted this new program to provide condoms and
education to people throughout the population. These conservative Muslim leaders have
expressed concern that the availability and marketing oI condoms encourages young children
to have sex, the Guardian reports. Conservatives align the campaign with the condoning oI
sexual activity in general.
Proponents oI the condom campaign see the situation diIIerently. Much oI the emphasis in
providing protection to all people, including sex workers, is an attempt to curb the spread oI
HIV throughout the country and also encourage an understanding oI the virus and how it gets
transmitted. The Guardian quotes NaIsiah Mobi, a health minister in Indonesia, regarding the
promotion oI condom use:
Growing religious conservatism in recent years means some red-light districts have been
closed, but unregulated |sex work| is rampant there`s |sex work| in every harbour in the
archipelago.
The government launched the national condom campaign in 2006. This program promotes a
'100 condom use approach. This campaign is mostly directed at the sex worker industry
where transmission risk is high. Recent studies show that, globally speaking, sex workers are
some oI the most at-risk groups Ior contracting HIV. In Indonesia at least 200,000 people are
inIected with the virus and the number oI inIections tripled between 2006 and 2011.
The University oI CaliIornia in San Francisco notes that 8,300 Indonesians died oI AIDS in
2009 and that about 88,000 oI the HIV inIections are women. The Guardian also notes that
although there is a large segment oI Muslim conservatives concerned the government is
promoting promiscuity and sexual activity in young people, condom sales doubled between
2006 and 2011.
This week United States Secretary oI State Hillary Clinton spoke at the International AIDS
ConIerence in Washington DC. She stated that the US government is also committed to AIDS
prevention and treatment through education, condom availability and medical materials. In her
own words:
We`re Iocusing on what we call combination prevention. Our strategy includes condoms,
counseling and testing, and places special emphasis on three other interventions: treatment as
prevention, voluntary medical male circumcision, and stopping the transmission oI HIV Irom
mothers to children.
However, the United States has also taken a strong stance against helping global AIDS
campaigns that are involved with sex workers, blocking Iunding Ior grantees who wish to aid
sex workers. Indonesia is taking a stand in which the government recognizes that sex workers
have human needs and are an at-risk group in the Iight to prevent Iurther HIV inIections in the
world. Indonesia joins Botswana in a concerted eIIort to combat growing HIV rates around the
world in recent years, even when inIluential segments oI the population push against such
movements.
Nat|ona| Condom Week cance||ed
Debates have raged in the United States in recent years about the place oI preventative sex
education Ior the youth oI the country but it`s not the only place that has witnessed this
dialogue. Indonesia has also had a strong conservative reaction to the promotion oI condoms
as preventative measures in the Iight against HIV.
Many religious conservative groups in the country, made up oI a chain oI islands which sit
between Australia and Thailand, have resisted this new program to provide condoms and
education to people throughout the population. These conservative Muslim leaders have
expressed concern that the availability and marketing oI condoms encourages young children
to have sex, the Guardian reports. Conservatives align the campaign with the condoning oI
sexual activity in general.
Proponents oI the condom campaign see the situation diIIerently. Much oI the emphasis in
providing protection to all people, including sex workers, is an attempt to curb the spread oI
HIV throughout the country and also encourage an understanding oI the virus and how it gets
transmitted. The Guardian quotes NaIsiah Mobi, a health minister in Indonesia, regarding the
promotion oI condom use:
Growing religious conservatism in recent years means some red-light districts have been
closed, but unregulated |sex work| is rampant there`s |sex work| in every harbour in the
archipelago.
The government launched the national condom campaign in 2006. This program promotes a
'100 condom use approach. This campaign is mostly directed at the sex worker industry
where transmission risk is high. Recent studies show that, globally speaking, sex workers are
some oI the most at-risk groups Ior contracting HIV. In Indonesia at least 200,000 people are
inIected with the virus and the number oI inIections tripled between 2006 and 2011.
The University oI CaliIornia in San Francisco notes that 8,300 Indonesians died oI AIDS in
2009 and that about 88,000 oI the HIV inIections are women. The Guardian also notes that
although there is a large segment oI Muslim conservatives concerned the government is
promoting promiscuity and sexual activity in young people, condom sales doubled between
2006 and 2011.
This week United States Secretary oI State Hillary Clinton spoke at the International AIDS
ConIerence in Washington DC. She stated that the US government is also committed to AIDS
prevention and treatment through education, condom availability and medical materials. In her
own words:
We`re Iocusing on what we call combination prevention. Our strategy includes condoms,
counseling and testing, and places special emphasis on three other interventions: treatment as
prevention, voluntary medical male circumcision, and stopping the transmission oI HIV Irom
mothers to children.
However, the United States has also taken a strong stance against helping global AIDS
campaigns that are involved with sex workers, blocking Iunding Ior grantees who wish to aid
sex workers. Indonesia is taking a stand in which the government recognizes that sex workers
have human needs and are an at-risk group in the Iight to prevent Iurther HIV inIections in the
world. Indonesia joins Botswana in a concerted eIIort to combat growing HIV rates around the
world in recent years, even when inIluential segments oI the population push against such
movements.