HIV-AIDS incidence 2018 update in Aceh, Indonesia : ICEBERG PHENOMENON REVEALED !!

Hello how are you doing Steemians all over the world, hope you guys stay healthy and blessed. This time I would like to share with you a novel information related HIV/AIDS in Aceh. Let’s focus the scope of discussion in Aceh Utara (North of Aceh).. since the highest HIV-AIDS incedence found in North of Aceh.

According to dr. Makhrozal, M.Kes (Chief of Health Department of North Aceh), HIV-AIDS cases in North of Aceh until january 2018 are 78 cases. From this cases, 21 patients were reported died. The remaining are 57 cases. It’s a small number huh ?? But wait a minute......, these are reported figures guys..... there are more cases which undetected since HIV-AIDS is still as a taboo, some say it is a cursed disease. Academically speaking, when you are dealing with survey or statistic, there are always some errors, called margin of error. And usually the margin of error between 0.1 to 0.5 (1% to 5%). But when we’re talking about HIV-AIDS, instead of employing the “margin of error” method.., researchers and scientist apply a theory called Iceberg phenomenon.

http://www.medicoapps.rocks/2017/10/iceberg-phenomenon.html

The Iceberg phenomenon describe as a situation in which a large percentage of a problem is subclinical, unreported or hidden from view, thus only the tip of the iceberg is apparent to the epidemiologist.

Prof. Ratsiri Thato with me

According my advisor Prof. Ratsiri Thato, a researcher from Chulalongkorn University whose expert in HIV-AIDS, when you apply “the iceberg phenomenon” into HIV-AIDS disease, you should add 2 to 3 zero behind the figure to overcome the undetected cases. For instance, if you get 100 cases, adding with two zero behind the figure = 10.000 cases. Now let’s apply this term into HIV-AIDS reported cases in North of Aceh :

57 + 00 = 5.700 cases

http://rotana.net/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%83%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%88/

Well....I know you are startled.... so am I...

This statistic might be nothing if we compare with HIV-AIDS rate in USA or in Thailand, but for an Islamic Province like Aceh.. this is huge.

This figure projected to be increased more and more since we don’t know who is infected who is not. In my hospital where I currently working, we provide a Voluntary Counseling Testing (VCT) for those who suspected HIV-AIDS. You may may suggest people to do the test for early detection of HIV-AIDS and hopefully we can lower the HIV-AIDS incidences in Aceh.

I hope this article is useful for Steemians. Any suggestion or critical are wellcome for my improvement.

This is an original article. All the datas in this article are real which I got from VCT Policlinic Hospital of Cut Meutia Lhokseumawe.

Thank you for upvoting and following me. Hope to see you again on my next article

Best,
@alzamna