JAKARTA, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - Indonesia's health minister said Wednesday mining giant Freeport should contribute money to help fight the spread of HIV and AIDS in Papua, where it operates a massive gold and copper mine.
In a speech to regional government representatives and health workers here, Siti Fadilah Supari said the company should use some of the money it has set aside for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to fight the disease.
"Freeport should set aside their CSR funds to save Papua. Transport costs for health workers there are very expensive," Supari said, without suggesting an amount of funding.
The provinces of Papua and West Papua on the Indonesian half of New Guinea island have the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the country, with a 2006 ministry estimate putting the infection rate at 2.4 percent.
Welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie said women made up nearly half of the HIV cases in Mimika district, where Freeport's massive Grasberg mine is located.
"Out of 1,478 HIV positive cases in Mimika district... only 12.6 percent of them are women sex workers, more than double the number are housewives who are not changing partners and are not drug users," Bakrie said.
Ministry-coordinated programmes to fight HIV and AIDS have run up against funding shortfalls. Indonesia's 2007 central government budget only covered 26 percent of the cost of the planned programmes, while another 43 percent was covered by donor agencies.
The government is looking to provincial governments and other sources to help fill the funding gap.
Indonesia recorded 19,335 cumulative HIV and AIDS cases at the end of 2007, compared to 13,424 a year before, according to health ministry figures.
Indonesia has the fastest growing HIV and AIDS epidemic in Southeast Asia, according to UNAIDS, with the disease concentrated in Papua and among groups such as sex workers, prisoners, injecting drug users and gay men.
The health ministry has set what Supari has called a "relatively expensive" 2008 health budget for Papua of 654 billion rupiah (71.3 million dollars).
Freeport Indonesia is 81 percent owned by US-based Freeport McMoRan with the remaining stakes shared equally between the Indonesian government and company Indocopper Investama.
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