leonniefm 5 June 2009 Featured 157 views 4 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Media Indonesia e-Paper wrote on Thursday June 4 2009 that the Religion Department of Bengkulu backs the suggestion of being free of HIV/AIDS to be a premarital precondition. The suggestion said to be given by the Vice Governor of Bengkulu, Mr. M Syamlan, Lc. in his concern of the rising threat of HIV/AIDS.

Nobody should be allowed to influence or interfere on that any marital decision as long as it is consensual. How could one party have any authority over another human being’s right to love and be loved?

Preventing HIV. Are you kidding me? On the contrary preventing people with HIV from getting married, will result in them looking for sex in extramarital context. And tell me how could that stop the spreading on the virus?

Should the institutions mentioned above would like to do a better prevention to the spreading of HIV, they must start by opening the line of communication to at least the Health Department. Indonesian Health Department - which despite of some might have said, have done a very good job in helping people with HIV to get access to Anti Retroviral Drugs for free for the last few years. It has managed to established clinics where people could have access not only to the ARV but also doctors and health educators. People who work tirelessly to help people with HIV to be productive and even to have free-HIV-offspring.

Both said officials above need to learn that HIV is a manageable virus. The only thing seems to be unmanageable here is their ignorance. The kind of ignorance that could do more damage in the future than preventing the spreading of the disease.

Instead of trying to find easy shortcuts to deal with the spreading of HIV, those officials should use their time to do actual works so that the young generations of this country can value the life of fellow human beings without any discrimination.

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Also Read:

HIV+ mothers could have free-HIV-babies with the right treatments:

- Pregnancy & HIV: If your viral load is undetectable, and if you take anti-HIV medication before and during pregnancy and delivery, your baby only has a 1 to 2 percent risk of being infected.

- Prevention of Perinatal Transmission of HIV in 2008: By receiving HAART, women can remain healthy and can bear children with a very low risk of HIV transmission. Certain conditions and treatments must be done to have free-HIV-offspring.

(images are taken from here and here)