Against All Odds: HIV/AIDS Epidemic Among Indigenous Papuans
A boy is seen on a beach at sunset in Sorong, a city with the highest HIV/AIDS infection in West Papua.
40 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia are found in Papua. Although they say that HIV/AIDS does not discriminate, in Papua the epidemic follows along the fault lines of race: about three-quarters of those infected are indigenous Papuans and they are living and dying in the midst of the fastest growing epidemic in Asia. Indigenous Papuans lack access to the information and education necessary to make informed decisions to reduce vulnerability to HIV. They also have limited access to preventive services, adequate health support, and treatment. Consequently, no other ethnic group in Papua bears as high a risk of transmission, stigmatization, marginalized well-being, and mortality related to HIV/AIDS as do indigenous Papuans. This epidemic, if unchecked, threatens their survival and jeopardizes the longevity of Indigenous Papuans' future generations.
