DILI, 23 march 2022 (TATOLI) – From january to february 2022, the Bairo-Pite Clinic (BPC) registered six new cases of HIV/AIDS and gave treatment to more than 200 HIV/AIDS patients.
BPC also registered more than 40 HIV/AIDS who dropped out from their routine treatment at the clinic.
The majority of persons infected with HIV/AIDS are from Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, and the two other municipalities sharing borders with West Timor, namely Covalima and Bobonaro.
“Timor-Leste’s urban agglomeration is centered in Dili, that’s why the number of HIV/AIDS cases is even higher than the actual number. Meanwhile, Covalima and Bobonaro municipalities are sharing borders with the Indonesian district known as Atambua, making it easy for our young people living at the border zones to have sexual intercourse with Indonesian sex workers,” the Director of Bairo-Pite Clinic, Inácio dos Santos made the comments, at his office, in Dili, today.
He said the majority of the HIV/AIDS patients aged 20 to 40, making it difficult for many to find a job in the country and overseas to make a living.
To combat and reduce the number of HIV/AIDs cases in the country, Santos said raising the awareness of the young people, focusing on high school and university students is urgently needed.
“A National Campaign to raise HIV awareness among young people is needed to eradicate HIV/AIDS in the country,” he said.
“We have visited more than 10 high schools across capital Dili, and all high schools in Bobonaro and Covalima municipalities to raise the awareness of the students about safer sex practices by using a barrier — like condoms, internal condoms, dental dams.”
BPC also plans to carry out the HIV Awareness Campaign for universities students in the near future: “We will cooperate with the Ministry of Higher, Education, Science, and Culture (MoHESC) to carry our socialization on safe sex to universities students across capital Díli. We will inform them about the right age for both men and women to become sexually active, and so on.”
Santos emphasized that sex education is crucial to prevent young from getting pregnant at an early age: “It will help our young people to protect themselves from other communicable diseases, including syphilis, gonorrhea, hepatitis and etc.”
He added sexual taboo in Timor-Leste makes it difficult for professional health workers and relevant parties to share the knowledge of safe sex with young people, adding parents do not want their children to hear the words sex from others.
Santos called on the religious leader to cooperate with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and MoHESC to openly raise the awareness of young people to practice safe sex when having sexual intercourse with their partners.
HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed 36.3 million worldwide, reported WHO.
WHO said that in the South-East Asia Region, the overall adult HIV prevalence is 0.3% with an estimated 3.5 million people living with HIV. The magnitude of HIV infection differs greatly between countries in the Region. Five countries account for the majority of the burden, namely India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
