TEMPO.CO, Ternate - The number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) sufferers that can lead to AIDS in North Maluku is concerning. Based from the data that Tempo gathered, in 2014-2015 there were 627 HIV cases in North Maluku, which consists of 203 HIV cases and 424 AIDS cases.
From those numbers, City of Ternate has the highest cases of HIV/AIDS with 243 cases. Followed by 229 cases in North Halmahera, 40 cases in West Halmahera, and 33 cases in East Halmahera. The HIV/AIDS sufferers in the Tidore Islands reached 31 cases, 19 cases in South Halmahera, 18 cases in Sula Islands, 10 cases in Morotoi Islands, and 4 cases in Central Halmahera.
Head of NGO in North Maluku Rorano, Asger Saleh said, the main cause of the high numbers is the sexual intercourse. Based on age cumulative percentage, the most dominant sufferers of HIV AIDS in North Maluku is in the productive age of 30–39 years old that reached 38,7 percent and 38,4 percent for the ages of 20–29 years old. “This condition is alarming,” Asgar said, Monday, September 26, 2016.
According to Asgar, to decrease and avoid the spread of HIV AIDS in North Maluku is to educate the people about the dangers of this disease.
Responding to that data, Ternate’s Mayor Burhan Abdurahman said that he has arranged a local regulation concerning HIV/AIDS. That regulation later on will hand out punishments for the act of prostitution. The alternative step is to involve younger people to campaign about the dangers of the disease. “We hope these steps can avoid the spread of HIV in Ternate,” Burhan said.
BUDHY NURGIANTO
