Indonesia’s health ministry has apologised after a printing error led to a poster campaign claiming HIV can be transmitted through mosquito bites, swimming and sneezing.

Social media was flooded with angry comments after the ministry’s attempt to launch a campaign to debunk myths about HIV backfired badly in a country where people with the virus are much stigmatised.

The Indonesian plan involved putting up posters on commuter trains in the capital, Jakarta, stating that HIV cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites, swimming and sneezing, or through human saliva and sweat.

But the printing company missed out the word “not” from the posters and failed to get final approval from officials. The mistake resulted in the banners reinforcing the very beliefs they were intended to challenge. Hundreds of posters were plastered on trains at the weekend, but have been removed after the outcry.

“The ministry has to carry out a massive and systematic awareness campaign to undo this blunder,” said Aditya Wardhana, an activist from Indonesia Aids Coalition. HIV activist Fajar Jasmin tweeted that the botched campaign was a “stupid, fatal mistake”.

Senior health ministry official Muhammad Subuh said: “We have made a public apology and now the banners are being removed and will be replaced with the correct ones. They omitted the word ‘not’; it was an honest mistake.”