'HIV/AIDS photo event major breakthrough'

'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.