JAKARTA (AFP) -- Indonesia has one of the fastest-growing HIV populations in Asia, officials have said, as they launched the results of a World Health Organization review of the epidemic.

I Nyoman Kandun, director general of the health ministry's contagious diseases department, said HIV was spreading swiftly among high-risk groups and in certain parts of Indonesia where health care is lacking.

"In the past few years there has been an increase in the number of cases among high-risk populations in Indonesia," he told an audience of health ministry officials and journalists. "The epidemic has spread swiftly among injecting drug users."

The review, jointly organized by the health ministry and the WHO, also found HIV infection rates in the easternmost province of Papua were more than 20 times the national average.

A recent health ministry survey showed that more than two percent of the population of Papua is infected with HIV.

Bjorn Melgaard, the head of the review team, said the health care system in sparsely-populated Papua was not well developed.

Officials in Indonesia have previously warned that a million people will be infected with HIV by 2015 if more is not done to tackle the problem.

In 2006, the health ministry said 6,987 of the country's 220 million-strong population had full-blown AIDS and a further 4,617 were HIV positive, with 70.3 percent of sufferers in the 20 to 29 age group. But the real figure is thought to be much higher.

The national narcotics body estimates there are at least 570,000 intravenous drug users, with around half believed to be HIV positive.

The review found the national commitment to tackle the epidemic was strong, but that the health sector faced some major constraints, including limited capacity and lack of consistency in prevention efforts. It also found problems with blood safety and the quality of clinical care.

Melgaard said blood safety was a "weak element in the emergency response" and called for it to be made a national priority.