A public health foundation that's involved in HIV-AIDS work says more awareness about safe sex is needed in Indonesia's Papua region.
Latest official figures report the number of people living with HIV AIDS have risen by more than 30 percent to over 17,000 in just four months.
The director of YPKM Papua, Dr Tahi Butarbutar, says he's worked locally for twenty years and says too many villagers living in isolated rural areas don't practise safe sex.
He says communities living near where national and multinational companies bring in outside workers are at an even greater risk of infection.
"That's allowing the process of modernisation, that's influences unsafe sexual behaviour, basically if you do not do it with a condom. Condom is a very hard promotion with the people."
Dr Tahi Butarbutar
