1.182 Pregnant Women Tested HIV-Positive Since Early 2014

Jakarta, Oct 14 (Antara) - A total of 1,182 Indonesian pregnant women tested positive for HIV in the first half of this year, according to the Health Ministry. The figure more than doubled from 534 in 2011, Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi remarked during the launch of a manual pertaining to the application of HIV therapy on children and a talk show on ARV therapy for children here on Monday. Mboi emphasized that expecting parents and others should abstain from engaging in risky sexual behaviors. "Men must be committed to following non-risky sexual behaviors, so as not to be infected by the virus. If they are infected, they must get themselves checked, so as not to transmit it to their spouses," she stressed. In 2006, the government launched a program to diagnose the presence of HIV in pregnant women as part of its efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease, she reported. More than 134 thousand pregnant women were tested for HIV in the initial seven months of 2014 as compared to 21 thousand in 2011, she pointed out. "I do hope that more than 270 thousand pregnant women will be tested by the end of 2014. Pregnant women who test positive for HIV are directly treated to minimize the risk of transmitting the virus to their infants," she stated. Mboi noted that 71 out of the 534 pregnant women tested in 2011 were found to have contracted HIV and the figure increased to 91 in 2013. "Some of them could be prevented from getting infected by offering them intensive treatment. As the others could not be treated, so their infants were also infected," she remarked. She called on all pediatricians to proactively spread awareness about the dangers of HIV among expectant mothers. "Pediatricians must be able to decipher more quickly whether or not pregnant women are infected by HIV. If they know that they have tested positive for HIV then they must be treated," she added.