Official figures released this month show that the number of people with HIV/AIDS in West Papua has grown by more than 30% in just four months. The figure now stands at more than 17,000. However, doctors and others working in the region contest this number, believing it to be far higher. HIV infection rates in West Papua are 15 times Indonesia’s national average. The Papua AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA) revealed that the area with the highest increase and overall infection rate was Mimika, home to the giant Grasberg copper and gold mine. The American and British-owned mine, involving Freeport McMoRan and Rio Tinto, which has destroyed the land of the Amungme and Kamoro tribes, brings many outsiders, including sex workers, into the area.
See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7294.