SAMA AKU YUK! (Sayangi Mereka, Ikut VCT Yuk!) – Love them, let’s do VCT!

Name of the activity: SAMA AKU YUK! (Sayangi Mereka, Ikut VCT Yuk!) – Love them, let’s do VCT!

Country/NMO: Indonesia (CIMSA-ISMKI)

Program: HIV/AIDS & Other STIs

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign. Combination of education and advocacy. Campaigns create awareness in society about a certain topic (education aspect) and try to funnel this awareness into pressure on the decision makers to adapt policies accordingly (advocacy aspect).

General description:

This activity conducted by SCORA CIMSA UNS to celebrate the World AIDS Day and to increase public knowledge about HIV/AIDS. First, we held a talkshow about “the dangers of HIV/AIDS and the importance of VCT” and free voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) at Gajahan Health Center, Surakarta. In the second day, SCORA CIMSA UNS with other 13 organizations/communities held a long march at Car Free Day Slamet Riyadi, Surakarta, followed by a talkshow about HIV/AIDS by the PIK-R, some performances such as live music, then there was the signing of a petition and message writing from the general public regarding people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In the last day, we visited Rumah Lentera Solo, which is a shelter for children with HIV/AIDS. During this visit, five different game posts were held to play with the children. This activity ended with giving souvenir in the form of a photo album related to the World AIDS Day 2018 series

Focus area:

STI testing and removing stigmatization and empowering people living with HIV

Problem statement:

The number of people with HIV has increased from 2005 to 2017. Central Java has the 5th highest number of HIV and the 4th highest number of AIDS in Indonesia. In Surakarta, there were 18 HIV cases and 47 AIDS cases in 2013, this number has not matched the estimates of existing patients.

The lack of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and VCT is also a concern. From the survey, 1.05% of respondents still believe that HIV/AIDS is incurable and 78.5% of respondents do not know the relation between HIV and AIDS

Target groups:

General population, Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students

Objectives and indicators of success:

Goals: Conduct a campaign and talk show on World AIDS Day to increase public knowledge about discrimination on people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and the importance of conducting VCT by 20% in 3 days.

Methodology:

To increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS and encourage the community to be aware of the VCT importance, we held talk show at Health Center and Car Free Day. The talk show is about “The Dangers of HIV/AIDS and The Importance of VCT.” The speaker of the first talk show is a doctor from the Health Center, and the speaker of the second talk show is a member of PIK-R.

Plans for evaluation:

The talk show evaluated by the data obtained through a pretest and posttest that will be processed into a quantitative data. We conduct the pretest and posttest to the participants of the talk show. We also collected data on who had done VCT at the Gajahan Health Center after the intervention. Every data that we got would be compared, to know the impactfulness and the effectiveness of the interventions of this activity.