'HIV/AIDS photo event major breakthrough'
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following the completion of a rare exposure of people living with HIV/AIDS, participants said on Saturday they were proud of their involvement in the photography exhibition, part of a campaign to end the stigma against them.
"We are proud to be able to participate and take a role in this campaign, because we are sure it is a very meaningful breakthrough," said Andreas and eight others in a press release made available to The Jakarta Post, amid earlier doubts of the willingness of the participants to be exposed through the 35 photographs and texts on their profiles.
At the press conference marking the opening of the exhibit the photographer Rio Helmi had said he had explained the risks of exposure to the participants before they had signed an informed consent agreement, and that he was not new to the issue of HIV/AIDS.
Discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS has repeatedly been cited as the main problem in dealing with the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in Indonesia. Other factors such as complacence relate to discrimination as HIV/AIDS is widely believed to only affect high risk groups such as sex workers and drug users.
The event at the House of Representatives (DPR) was held from Feb. 17 to Feb. 21 and also included a seminar on Thursday. Among other speakers were Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi, Farid Husain, secretary of the National Commission to Overcome AIDS, legislators and Hendrianto, a person living with HIV/AIDS.
The exhibit featuring 35 large-sized photographs of the participants had attracted hundreds of legislators, celebrities and other public figures who attended the opening. Also present were the parents of the late Suzana Murni, a person living with HIV/AIDS who died on July 6 last year, to whom the event was dedicated.
It was organized by, among others, the Spiritia Foundation, a non-governmental organization set up by Suzana, who was among the first Indonesians to go public about her HIV/AIDS status. The participants, members of the All Indonesia Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, said it was Suzana's vision that had encouraged them to join the exhibit. "Her vision that people living with HIV/AIDS empower themselves to play a larger role in overcoming AIDS in Indonesia and the Asia Pacific, remains alive."
"The aim of the exhibit is that people living with HIV/AIDS can be accepted by all elements in society without stigma and discrimination; and so people can accept (us) as no different from any others, and not merely as a statistic."
"For us the exhibit succeeded tremendously in meeting that goal," Andreas and his friends wrote, given that "only a month ago it was beyond our imagination that we could sit together with the people's representatives at the DPR building."
The event at the DPR is only a first step, they said, adding that they hoped the pictures could be used more widely among the public apart from the legislative councils at local levels.
"As infected people we are determined to continue this struggle so that this epidemic can be overcome, and so that the future generation can be saved ..." the press release said. Apart from Andreas it was signed by Arni, Chritin Wahyuni, Hendrianto, Suharto, Margareta, Nuraeni, Sulasi and Tuty.
Facilitators of the project that described the lives of people with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia include the Stop AIDS Action project, Indonesia HIV/AIDS Care and Prevention Project, and the International Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.