Despite continuous campaigning, awareness among high-risk groups of the benefit of using condoms remains a cause for concern among activists fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS here.

"With between three million and five million men buying sex on a regular basis and rarely using condoms to protect themselves, we will certainly see thousands of new infections, not just among men but among their wives and children," United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Director of the Office of Health Lynn Krueger Adrian said on Saturday.

She was speaking during the launch of a wayang puppet show as a means to disseminate information on the risks of unprotected sex and injecting drug use.

Ignorance over the use condoms in the sex industry and the increase in the number of youths injecting drugs and sharing unsterile needles have been blamed for the rapid spread of the virus in the country.

The Ministry of Health estimates that up to 130,000 people have been infected with the virus while up to six million others are at risk.

Data from the non-governmental organization the AIDS Eradication Commission (KKI) reveals that up to 3.5 million men are buying sex on a regular basis in the country, but only 14 percent of them use condoms.

In some provinces the prevalence rate is considered high with one or more sex workers in 20 infected with the virus through their customers.

Elizabeth Pisani of the Family Health International-sponsored Stop AIDS Action (ASA) said in Surakarta, for example, one in seven sex workers had the virus.

"Only by putting an end to high-risk behavior and reducing the number of high-risk people can the spread of the HIV be controlled," she said.

The campaign's inaugural performance featured renowned puppeteer Ki Enthus Susmono of Tegal, Central Java, held in the compound of Surakarta Palace.

The HIV Indonesia Forum, ASA, KKI, USAID, Land O'Lakes. Inc., are sponsoring the program, in cooperation with the National Secretariat of Indonesian Puppets (Senawangi) and the Association of Indonesian Puppeteers (Pepadi) to mark World AIDS Day which falls on Dec. 1.

Injecting drug use is another challenge in the fight against HIV/AIDS, due to the fact that the HIV prevalence rate among drug users in cities throughout the country stands at up to 60 percent.

"This is not an isolated problem. Drug users will infect non-drug users, they will have sexual partners, wives, and many will have children," Lynn Krueger Adrian said.

The National Narcotics Body (BNN) has estimated that around one million Indonesians are using drugs and up to 145,000 of them are injecting heroin and sharing needles among themselves.