The Jakarta Post has published this story on, March 7 2007
"Please come in... I'm sorry I've got to lie down." The Jakarta Post received a warm welcome from Irwanto when it visited him in a hotel room in Surabaya, East Java, during the third national meeting on HIV/AIDS in early February.
Lying on a spring bed, the half-paralyzed 50-year-old raised his two hands. "This is my daily therapy," he said.
Irwanto, one of the country's prominent HIV/AIDS activists, became paralyzed in 2003 in what appears to have been a case of medical malpractice. He went to a doctor complaining of pain in the left-hand side of his chest. The doctor suggested that he was suffering from a blood-clot and gave him intravenous streptokinase.
"Two hours after the drug treatment I became paralyzed as the blood vessels at the nape of my neck were severed," he said.
Medical doctors and friends thought that the family health activist and international advisor on injecting drug use would not live long.
"My family refused to give up and I decided to seek medical help in Singapore, where all the diagnoses made by Indonesian doctors were found to be completely mistaken," he said.
But it was already too late to reverse his condition. Since then, Irwanto has had to go around in a wheelchair.
But he has never allowed his condition to hamper his campaign against human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Indonesia.
Born in Purwodadi, Grobogan, Central Java, on Feb. 28, 1957, Irwanto was one of Indonesia's first HIV/AIDS activists.
"Illicit drugs and HIV control are a personal concern for me," Irwanto said.
Irwanto's involvement in the campaign against HIV/AIDS began when the father of two studied at Purdue University in the U.S. in 1988. There he found himself surrounded by people already infected with HIV.
"At first I didn't know they were HIV-positive, but gradually I found out that those around me were living with HIV/AIDS," he recalled.
Mingling with HIV-positive people made Irwanto aware of the importance of treating people with HIV/AIDS. Moreover, in those years America was facing the HIV/AIDS issue through struggles of Ryan White, a teenager who had contracted the virus at the age of 13 through a blood transfusion and fought against discrimination.
"Ryan White's case was a real lesson. In Indonesia, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases like hepatitis A and B still get no positive response," said Irwanto, psychology graduate from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.
Back in Indonesia, Irwanto underwent a personal trial when his wife Irene Indrawati Raman gave birth to the couple's second child, Indy Irwanto. Indy was born with hepatitis B and her doctor predicted the baby would not live to see one year.
"After being checked, all family members turned out to be infected with hepatitis B," he added. But they later learned that the medical warning was not true and their hepatitis was not as grave as assumed.
Another big problem, however, soon confronted him. His younger brother fell victim to drug abuse, which gave Irwanto a daily headache. He also received repeated death threats from financiers and loan sharks demanding debt payments.
"My brother recovered and led a normal life for a while, but I will never forget all the bad things he experienced," said Irwanto, who earned his doctorate degree from Purdue University's child development and family studies school in 1992. His brother, however, relapsed in mid-1993 and later died.
The ignorance of most Indonesians of transmittable diseases, coupled with his family member's drug entanglements, made Irwanto "vengeful" toward drug abuse and its complications, including HIV. His association with Dr Syamsu Rizal Jauhari and Dr. Zubirin Djoerban made this 1986 alumnus of Drug Counseling at the Life Education Foundation in Sydney, Australia, aware of the close relations between illicit drugs and HIV.
Supported by other HIV/AIDS activists, Irwanto initiated a meeting in Cipanas, West Java, in 1998. This forum revealed the same situation existed in Indonesia as in Australia and Thailand.
"There were close ties between narcotics and HIV/AIDS, which frequently involved the younger generation," he indicated. The meeting also set up a National Narcotics Coordinating Board (BKNN).
BKNN met with then president B.J. Habibie to discuss programs for narcotics control on a national scale. While the joint program was not yet implemented, the government set up a new institution, the National Narcotics Agency, under the National Police.
"All activists withdrew from the national program and worked individually through non-governmental organizations," he said.
In 2002, Irwanto established the Atma Jaya Kiosk, an NGO under the Atma Jaya Research Institute, to introduce safe methods to injection drug users (IDUs).
"We chose to take care of drug users because they were already discarded by society," Irwanto said. Interacting with drug users was not simple, so ways had to be found to convince drug addicts that they could trust the Atma Jaya Kiosk. The NGO was, however, threatened and criticized every day by people who considered it a front to legalize narcotics abuse.
"Actually, that was not true. We only wanted to treat drug users like humans," he said. As there was no place for the Kiosk's operation, its activists were forced to provide training under shop overhangs.
Fortunately, society is now aware that what the Atma Jaya Kiosk workers did has had a positive impact. At present there are 3,000 IDUs actively involved in the Kiosk, which has expanded its operations to home care for those living with HIV.
According to Irwanto, it takes a long time to handle drug users and HIV/AIDS patients, because narcotic addicts often relapse into their habit many times. "Ninety percent of drug users relapse, some even experience severe reversals," said the trainer on the health consequences of illicit drug use.
Though sitting on a wheelchair, his busy days working as an activist against drug abuse and HIV/AIDS continue. He has also earned various awards, including the citation as the First Generation Activist in HIV/AIDS Control from the third National Meeting on HIV & AIDS in Surabaya.
"I hope the public will keep fighting illicit drugs and HIV, under whatever condition," he said.
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