Indonesia Creates Budget Forum to Address HIV/AIDS Spending Issues

The Indonesian government has established a Forum of HIV/AIDS Control Planning and Budgeting to address the country's issues with providing adequate funding for the disease, Arum Atmawikarta, director of health and public nutrition at the Office of the State Minister for National Development Planning, announced recently, Asia Pulse/Individual.com reports. The country has funded 41% of the 1.5 trillion Indonesian rupiah -- or about $125.5 trillion -- needed to address HIV/AIDS in the country through national and regional budget allocations. An additional 40% of HIV/AIDS funding has been provided by foreign donors, but such funding is not continuous, according to the state minister's office. The remaining 19% has not been met because of limited funding, Asia Pulse/Individual.com reports.

Atmawikarta said that officials hope the "forum would be able to overcome the fund constraint so that the HIV epidemic in the country could be immediately curbed." She said that the "mechanism of work of the forum will be adapted to the cycle of planning and budgeting process at national and regional levels," adding that the forum aims to optimize HIV/AIDS efforts. Atmawikarta said the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia is increasing annually (Asia Pulse/Individual.com, 2/26).

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