People with HIV can be healthy and productive if you do this

According to the Head of Disease Prevention and Control at the Bandung City Health Office (Dinkes), dr. Ira Dewi Jani, the sooner this disease can be detected, the higher the expectation of a healthy and productive life for people with HIV/AIDS.

"Even though it can't be cured, it can decrease until it can't be detected or undetectable. If it's not detected, it can't be transmitted. That's why we have to look for HIV/AIDS because if not, it will look like an iceberg phenomenon," explained Ira to City Public Relations. Bandung, Friday, August 26, 2022.

For him, the negative stigma about HIV/AIDS makes it difficult for health workers to detect it early. In fact, if it can be detected early, there is still a chance that someone will not enter the AIDS phase.

"Don't let anyone die because they have entered the AIDS phase. Hopefully we can find and treat only the HIV phase," he hoped.

HIV/AIDS, explained Ira, although it can be treated, the sufferer will never recover. If someone has been diagnosed with HIV and recorded, and reported in the HIV Information System (SIH), then the data will continue to exist until death. So the number of cases is cumulative.

"We collected the cases based on reports for 30 years from 1991-2021. The total number of cases until December 2021 reached 5,843. 6.97 percent of them were students or there were 407 cases for 30 years," he explained.

If averaged per year, cases of HIV / AIDS in the city of Bandung reached 300-400 cases. Most of the risk factors are heterosexual relationships.

From the data collected by the Bandung City Health Office for the last 30 years, the age most affected by HIV/AIDS is 20-29 years.

"HIV has a disease course of 3-10 years. If his immune system is not good, 3 years he has shown symptoms of AIDS. If his immune system is good, it can only appear 10 years later," he explained.

Even so, there are actually other factors that cause cases of HIV/AIDS to occur. In addition to free sex and drug abuse, transmission from mother to child, as well as medical personnel who have accidents at work are also factors.

"That person can only be diagnosed with HIV after he takes the test because there are no specific signs and symptoms for people who are infected with HIV. However, usually these people are embarrassed to be tested for HIV/AIDS," said Ira.

"Therefore, we must first remove the stigma and discrimination so that someone wants to be tested for HIV," he added.

He said that this way the person could live more productively and not enter the AIDS phase. The link can be broken with medication.

Treatment of HIV/AIDS has been guaranteed by the government. So, Ira advised, do not let people living with HIV/AIDS feel like they have been sentenced to death.

"Because if it is treated, the virus can be undetected and not contagious. People can get married, even have children," he said.

Various steps have been taken by the Bandung City Government (Pemkot) to prevent and overcome HIV/AIDS. Starting from promotive to rehabilitative actions.

Through promotive actions, the Bandung City Government has introduced reproductive health materials from junior high school or adolescent age groups that are tailored to their age capabilities.

"We already have a Healthy Living with Friends (HEBAT) program. We also carry out counseling in workplaces," said Ira.

Then, in preventive action, every pregnant woman must check the minimum service standards mandated in the health sector, one of which is an HIV test.

Then, from curative measures, antiretroviral (ARV) therapy has been applied in hospitals and several health centers in Bandung. Furthermore, through rehabilitative measures, assistance is provided to unravel the psychological, social, and economic problems of HIV/AIDS.

"In the city of Bandung there is a WPA (Resident Concerned about AIDS). So indeed we are dealing with HIV/AIDS with a comprehensive sustainable service LKB," he admitted.

However, he stressed, of course all these efforts must be carried out by involving all levels of society. Especially in reducing negative stigma and discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS.

"If we don't find and detect it as early as possible, it could affect the demographic bonus because he continues to transmit. If his lifestyle is not corrected sooner, he can enter the AIDS stage," he continued. (din)**

Head of the Bandung City Communication and Information Technology

Yayan A. Brilyana