Early D. Nuriana, the ILO’s programme coordinator for HIV prevention, emphasized the importance of knowledge as a means to not only provide better protection of Indonesian youth to HIV but also to eliminate stigma and discrimination against this issue. 

“Therefore, it is important for youth to have better knowledge on reproductive health and HIV prevention and for those who are sexually active to know their HIV status early. By knowing basic reproductive health knowledge and their status, they can find necessary treatments, avoid risky behaviours and live their lives healthier.”

Sharing his life as a young worker with HIV, M. Fakhri said that when he learnt about his HIV status, he could continue maintaining his condition and productivity by regularly taking the ARV medication. “There is wrong perceptions about HIV. I believe it is just like any other diseases. By undertaking treatment and medication, we can still maintain our condition and are still fit work,” he said.

To combat stigma and discrimination, Fakhri approached his supervisor, opening up about his HIV status. His supervisor even supported his decision to reveal his status to his fellow workers. “The proper knowledge about HIV have made my fellow workers accepting and supporting my condition. They even diligently reminded me to take my medication on time,” told Fakhri.

Meanwhile, Deni Dwi Junico, the ILO’s youth champion on occupational safety and health (OSH), underscored the integration of HIV related issues to the OSH mechanism at the workplace. This integration is expected to cut infectious cycle of HIV causing by risky behaviours due to lack of knowledge. 

“HIV education programme can be integrated through the existing OSH mechanism at the enterprise level. This integration aims to raise the awareness about HIV prevention programmes and to strengthen the commitment at the leadership level to develop a non-discriminatory policy at the workplace,” stated Deni,

The results of polling conducted in the webinar regarding facts and myths on HIV/AIDS revealed that there was still misconception about HIV/AIDS. For example, 48 percent of the participants still considered saliva as one of the HIV transmission modes. Responding to the results, Dr Maya Trisiswati, an HIV expert from HIV/AIDS Care Yarsi, raised the awareness of the participating youth with the HIV facts.

“We need to continue raising the awareness about HIV/AIDS, particularly for Indonesian youth. The youth aged 15-24 years old with HIV has reached 24 percent from the total number of people with HIV in the country. To date, all provinces in Indonesia has been affected by HIV,” she added.

In agreement, Anggiat Mangasi Nainggolang, a young activist from Inti Muda Indonesia, shared his experiences in advocating youth on HIV/AIDS by encouraging them to know their status early. “Many youth believe that they are safe because they show no symptoms. Lack of knowledge makes youth do not realize that when they do not properly protect themselves, they can affect others,” Anggiat said.

The interactive webinar concluded with the notion that HIV educational programme is key to prevent the widespread of HIV, particularly among young people. At the workplace, this educational programme can be integrated as part of the OSH mechanism.

This webinar was part of the series of HIV/AIDS webinars conducted by the ILO in collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Health. These eight series webinars are conducted every Tuesday from 20 October until the World AIDS Day on 1 December.