JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that AIDS is "not under control" in Indonesia as the government predicted that up to a million people may be infected by 2010.
The WHO expressed concerned about an increasing number of infections among intravenous drug users, sex workers, and heterosexuals in the eastern province of Papua.
"Indonesia shows a trend that it is still not under control," said Georg Petersen, the WHO's country representative, comparing it to neighbors Thailand and Cambodia where rates of infection appear to be stabilizing.
Responding to concerns, the Indonesian government established a National AIDS Commission in July that reports directly to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Its aim is to "prevent having one million infected people by 2010," Commission Secretary Nafsiah Ben Mboi said Tuesday, speaking to journalists ahead of world AIDS day on Dec. 1.
HIV has already infected an estimated 169,000 to 216,000 in the nation of 220 million.
The Health Ministry projected there would be half a million infected Indonesians in 2010 and "might reach 1 million in the absence of significant intervention," Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told journalists.
Creating public awareness will be the biggest challenge, she said. Despite the risks many Indonesians still engage in unsafe sex and drug users share needles because of limited or no access to clean syringes.
Health Ministry data shows that more than half of the country's AIDS cases are among intravenous drugs users, while a third have contracted it through heterosexual sexual contact.
UNAIDS, the U.N. agency fighting the virus, however has noted last year the per capita level of infection was still relatively low.
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