Against All Odds: HIV/AIDS Epidemic Among Indigenous Papuans.
The lab's counter at the public health clinic in Wamena. There are only 3 lab technicians working in the lab who are overwhelmed with the responsibility to test for various illnesses including sexual transmitted diseases, Tuberculosis, HIV, etc.
In Papua, all indigenous Papuans have access to health insurance, called Jamkesmas or Jaminan Kesehatan Masyarakat Miskin, provided at no cost by the provincial government. However, inadequate facilities, limited availability of medical equipment and medicines, and inexperienced health staff have made it difficult for indigenous Papuans to get tested for HIV/AIDS and receive quality assistance, counseling, and long-term care. Many health staff in Papua still lacks medical training to run and manage VCT clinics. In other places, even when health personnel have sufficient training, their clinics are often overcrowded and inadequate, lacking proper equipment such as testing reagents, centrifuge, HIV rapid tests, CD4 machines, and medicines to treat opportunistic infection and antiretroviral therapies.
