Govt urged to empower HIV positive people
Govt urged to empower HIV positive people
Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
AIDS activists are urging the government and the public to
empower HIV positive people to take control of their lives.
Chris W. Green, the field manager of the Spiritia Foundation,
which works with those with HIV/AIDS, said the HIV positive had
skills and a capacity that could be explored to help HIV/AIDS
prevention programs.
"They can become a subject who can actively campaign instead
of being an object whose personal background will always be
exposed," he told The Jakarta Post.
Retno Windrati, the community support coordinator at the
Pelita Ilmu Foundation, said people living with HIV often refused
to share their experiences in public.
"They don't mind talking about the dissemination of the virus,
but not about their personal lives," she told the Post.
The involvement of HIV positive people has been difficult to
realize because only a few of them are active in the AIDS
prevention movement, she said.
She said an unsupportive environment and the vulnerable
position of the HIV positive -- such as being afraid to reveal
their identities for fear of losing their job or their friends --
prevented them from getting involved in the HIV/AIDS campaign.
To overcome the unsupportive environment and to address the
fear of stigmatization, those with HIV, the government and
society must collaborate with other parties, Green said.
His foundation attempts to create a confidential atmosphere
for people living with HIV/AIDS to meet and to share their
experiences living with the virus.
"Such meetings might be in groups, one-on-one, or by
telephone, letter or e-mail," he said.
The foundation has also held twice annual meetings for people
from around the country who are living with HIV/AIDS.
He said the meetings were also open to limited numbers of
family members, partners, friends and caregivers of people with
HIV/AIDS.
Green and Retno said that to put a human face on those with
HIV, the country should provide access to care and support at the
local level, and promote an objective and nondiscriminatory
attitude among decision-makers and the public toward HIV/AIDS
infected people.
The unfair treatment of people with HIV is not unusual. Forty-
two HIV positive people interviewed by the foundation said they
had been discriminated against by community members or health
workers, Green said.
Sometimes the health workers also ask the families of HIV
positive people to discriminate against them, he said.
"They separate their dining utensils, bathroom, bedsheet,
bedroom and others. This is because they get misinformation," he
said.
Retno said there was one case in which a hospital marked the
bedsheets used by HIV positive people. And there are still
families who isolate HIV positive family members, she said.
And sometimes media exposure can take its toll. A local
newspaper in Sulawesi once published a photo of two HIV positive
people who had just gotten married, and the couple was then
chased out of their village, she said.
And in the West Java town of Krawang, she said, an HIV
positive mother and her baby were almost expelled from the
community.
"They only accepted the baby and the mother after our staff
hugged the baby to show that it was not dangerous," she said.