NGOs Host Activities To Raise Awareness of HIV/TB Coinfection in Indonesia

Several nongovernmental organizations recently hosted activities in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis coinfection, the Jakarta Post reports. The activities -- organized in cooperation with Indonesia's National AIDS Commission, Association of Indonesian Voluntary Health Services and the Coalition for Healthy Indonesia -- were designed to provide information on TB and HIV/AIDS to the public, government and other NGOs, the Post reports.

Approximately one-third of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide also have TB, according to the Post. The World Health Organization has said that people are diagnosed with both diseases so often that the organization considers it a dual epidemic. According to data from the Pelita Ilmu Foundation, between 2.5 million to three million people in Southeast Asia are coinfected with HIV/AIDS and TB. In Indonesia, 170,000 people were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and 260,000 people were diagnosed with TB in 2005, according to data from WHO (Hardoyo, Jakarta Post, 8/10).