Indonesia to boost HIV/AIDS spending

Indonesia will increase the amount of money it spends on fighting AIDS by 75 percent over the next three years, with the major focus on hardest-hit Papua province, the welfare minister said in Jakarta.

Indonesia has one of Asia's fastest-growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections among its 235 million people, fueled mainly by injecting drug users and prostitution.

Health authorities have warned that a failure to take prompt action in areas like Papua -- where infections are 15 times the national average -- could result in 1 million people infected with HIV within a few years.

Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said late Thursday the government would increase the amount of money budgeted for the AIDS fight from $67 million last year to $263 million in 2010.

The government also wants to reduce its dependency on international donors, which have contributed up to 70 percent to the national AIDS budget, he said.

The main focus of the new spending would be on Papua, which now receives only 4 percent of the money budgeted for AIDS even though it has the highest proportion of cases.