HIV incidence is still increasing in parts of Indonesia and in several Asian Countries. New cases of HIV in Indonesia have risen from 7,000 per year in 2006 to 48,000 per year in 2017. In 2020 there were 543,075 ODHIV spread throughout Indonesia. However, not all ODHIV routinely carry out HIV VL tests according to existing recommendations (Kemenkes, 2020). Only 3,950 (1%) of the total 394,769 ODHIV had their viral load checked (SIHA, 2020).
This figure is still very far from the total number of cases, even though viral load testing is important to assess the effectiveness of ARV therapy and reduce the potential for transmission of ODHIV. In addition, there are still many Indonesian people who do not understand clearly about HIV/AIDS.
Stigma and discrimination are still strong barriers in prevention and treatment. Until now, there are still many people who discriminate against and look at ODHIV with various stigmas that make ODHIV an embarrassment. Besides they have to fight against their illness, ODHIV have to accept a bad reputation from many people due to their inaccurate understanding of HIV/AIDS.
Based on these data, SCORA CIMSA FK UNAIR held an activity called CARIES (Caring and Sharing How Educate People to Prevent HIV & AIDS) as a celebration of World AIDS Day. This event was held with the aim of increasing public awareness and concern about HIV & AIDS. CARIES is divided into pre-event including upgrading; main-event including open donation, visit Yayasan Mahameru, screening VCT HIV; and post-event including after movie.
On Friday, December 2, 2022, there was an upgrade for SCORA CIMSA UNAIR members and newbies through Zoom Meeting as a pre-event with a trainer, Muhammad Harits as PETRA CIMSA UNAIR. The topic brought was “Early Education about HIV & AIDS”.
At the main event, there was an open donation with a donation period of 20 December 2022 – 05 January 2023 which is intended for ODHA at the Yayasan Mahameru. Then on Saturday, December 3, 2022 we held a free and open VCT HIV screening for the public in collaboration with the Dinas Kesehatan Surabaya & Inti Muda Jawa Timur at the Hotel Grand Surabaya. On January 7, 2023 we also visited the ODHA foundation at the Yayasan Mahameru with the target of children aged around 7-12 years. With a series of events in the form of material on “Raise Confident to Dream Big” by Nabila Divandra Kusuma as PETRA CIMSA UNAIR, games, making a wish tree, and distributing money from donations and groceries
At the end of our activities, SCORA CIMSA UNAIR made an after movie video in the form of an interview with the management of the Yayasan Mahameru Surabaya and a video recap during the foundation visit which was uploaded via Instagram CIMSA UNAIR.
Last but not least, SCORA CIMSA UNAIR hopes that this event can increase people’s knowledge about HIV & AIDS and can change the community’s stigma against ODHIV. Apart from that, we also hope that this event can reduce the number of HIV cases in Indonesia and even in the world.