According to Ministry of Health in 2010 only 12 % of young people between 14-25 in Indonesia had the proper and comprehensive knowledge concerning HIV/AIDS. Based on these data they created a campaign called ‘Aku Bangga Aku Tahu’, in order to share equitable knowledge about HIV and AIDS. The campaign was launched on November 27, 2011 (just before World AIDS Day) by Indonesian former Vice President Mr. Budiono. By 2014, the campaign has been implemented in 33 provinces in Indonesia.

Since the total cases of HIV/AIDS caused by sexual intercourse and the use of shared syringes among drug users, plus other activities that contradict with religion, ethics and norms of many Indonesian people, society sometimes still think that people with HIV/AIDS need to be avoided or treated in discriminative way. While in fact people infected with the HIV virus need to be supported by the people surrounding them – like good people do with almost every other disease or sickness.

Some expected results of the ‘Aku Bangga Aku Tahu’ campaign are:

1.       With a correct and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, young people can protect themselves from getting infected with HIV- and if they are infected already, from infecting others with HIV.

2.       Young people should have a certain indiscriminative attitude toward people who are infected with HIV.

3.       Because people have more knowledge concerning HIV/AIDS, they are more likely to have themselves tested.

4.       People who have been infected will get  help sooner, so that they can live their live in a normal way.

In this campaign the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS prevention and the need for prevention by using condoms will be delivered by experienced advisors with materials that have been adjusted to match Indonesian customs. It has become such a progressive step that the government is now aware that people also need to know about the use of condoms in order to prevent more HIV infections from happening and I hope that there will be many more campaigns like “Aku Bangga Aku Tahu” in the future.

The Bali Spirit Festival, a Yoga and World Music festival, is an annual festival that combines, yoga, dance and music. This year the Bali Spirit Festival was held from March 31st until April 5th  in two different locations: Purnati Center for The Arts and Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA).  

During the day, the festival presented more than 150 workshops, seminars and classes of yoga, meditation, dance, music, healing and health.

Like every year the Bali Spirit Festival also had non-profit events, one of which "Let's Talk About HIV/AIDS" that includes a campaign to get people talking more openly about HIV/AIDS. The EduSpirit Workshops act spiritually as a platform for HIV/AIDS education. Additionally, Inspirational Motivation gave inspiration to villagers in Bali to heal HIV/AIDS related issues in their own community using the 3L's: Love, Love and Love.

In order to decrease discrimination towards people with HIV/AIDS, Indonesian Family Planning Association (PKBI) held “Hugging Run” with the theme “Family is the Best Home for People with HIV/AIDS”. By the existence of this event, it is expected for the society to gain more and deep understanding of HIV/AIDS issues, especially for the family of the HIV positive victims.

The event will be held on 30-31 May 2015 in three different cities in Indonesia, in which Jakarta, Bandung and Denpasar and coincide with National Family Day. According to Devi Fitriana as the PR of PKBI, there will be another activities such as, futsal (indoor soccer), free HIV test, AIDS night meditation, and also socialization of HIV/AIDS information and knowledge.

The highlight of the event is the Hugging Run 5K which targeted to gain by minimum 3.000 participants in every city. The idea is every one kilometer, the participants are asked to hug someone in which representing people with HIV/AIDS symptoms, in order to minimize stigma and discrimination.

I think such event like this is an exemplary thing to do; it will be good for the society and government to show their concern in a positive way. Because no matter what, those who infected with HIV/AIDS still part of the society and they also have their human rights to live their life equally like other people. So stop discrimination and let’s support!

Did you know that Indonesia has quite a large number of HIV cases? Based on recent data from Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health, until September 2014 the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia are 54% men and 29% women, with 17% unknown. And the surprising thing is, it turned out that 6.539 people of the 29% women that live with HIV are housewives. 
Many of the housewives get infected by their husbands after had sex with sex workers or used non-sterile needles when injecting drugs. 
Most of the housewives feel secure as they only have sex with their husbands, so they did not use a condom, without knowing that their husband was infected with the HIV virus. Melly Windi Lianti, Program Manager of the Association of Indonesian Positive Women, said that female sex workers are more aware of the dangers of contracting the HIV virus, so they usually take precautions by using a condom during sex. Most housewives are not aware of this issue at all. 
All of us have to be more aware about HIV/AIDS and this news should be a reminder as that everybody has the possibility to get infected by HIV. For husbands and wives this means: get yourself checked to see whether you are infected by HIV or not. Stay informed and keep safe!