Aziz Shamsuddin, secretary of the Maluku Aids Prevention and Control Commission, told ANTARA Newshere Friday the biggest numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS in Maluku in 2010 were found among the self-employed, prostitutes and housewives, in that order.
"Of the 380 new HIV/AIDS cases that were recorded in 2010, 95 involved self-employed people, 94 prostitutes and 73 housewives," he said.
The remainder were civil servants, military/policemen, students, private sector employees, ship crews and unemployed people.
In terms of age, most of the HIV/AIDS sufferers or about 82 percent of the total were in the 15-39 years group, four percent in the 0-14 years group and 14 percent in the 40-60 years group, Aziz said.
HIV/AIDS in Maluku was for the first time detected in Tual in 1994 when it was believed to have been transmitted by a foreign ship`s crew. The number of detected HIV/AIDS cases at the time was 2.
Later, the lethal virus found its way into all districts and cities in Maluku. It also reached the most farflung regions, namely South Buru and Southwest Maluku.
The disease continued to spread over the years with the number of HIV/AIDS cases in the province in the period 1994-2010 recorded at 1,335, consisting of 615 HIV cases and 720 AIDS cases.
According to where the disease was found, Ambon city in 2010 had the highest number of HIV/AIDS sufferers, namely 756, followed by Sooutheast Maluku district (199 people), Aru Islands (119 people), Central Maluku district (107 people), West Maluku Tenggara (52 people), Tual city (38 people), West Seram (30 people), East Seram (15 people) , Buru (12 people), Southwest Maluku (5 people) and South Maluku. (*)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
