HIV risk behaviors among CM users might contribute to increasing HIV prevalence rates in Indonesia. Related risks can potentially be reduced if people have better access to CM related health services. Such services may include behavioral and or pharmacotherapy interventions (Colfax et al, 2010). Yet, despite its widespread use in Indonesia, there are currently no specific CM interventions in place, neither related to the prevention of HIV among CM users, nor drug treatment.
Considering the magnitude of the problem, it is of great importance that future interventions specifically targeting CM users will be developed to address HIV prevention and other health consequences related to CM use, including for people who smoke or snort meth. The only services currently available are those provided by the Ministry of Health, the National Narcotics Board (NNB), the Ministry of Social Affairs, and some private drug rehabilitation centers as mandated by Law No. 35/2009 (Kementerian Kesehatan, 2011; Kementerian Sosial, 2012) on voluntary and compulsory drug treatment. There are no outreach activities to reach CM users, except general education for the community and general health promotion advertisement for drug prevention.
Considering the magnitude of the problem is likely getting higher and potential risks for CM users to be exposed to HIV transmission, there is an urgency to develop an intervention to address HIV prevention and other health consequences targeting CM users. When developing new interventions for CM users it will be important to take into account both behavioral characteristics of CM users and the social context of CM use. Only then will such interventions be feasible and acceptable for CM users and local stakeholders. To achieve these aims, an operational research has been conducted, in order to identify and solve specific problems in related to the development of a CM user specific intervention. The goal of an operational research is to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of a planned intervention. (Global Fund, 2010; Population Council, 2000; Fisher et al, 2002). It is expected that with the help of this operational research study a more appropriate intervention can be developed, tailored to the needs of CM users, and thus acceptable for the community and stakeholder and feasible to be implemented in Jakarta. Potentially such interventions can then be expanded to other cities with similar contexts related to CM use.
