18 Nov 2015

Effort to dispel HIV/AIDS stigma in Papua

12:31 pm on 18 November 2015
34 year old Wesley from Wamena is HIV positive, “I always encourage my friends to go to the hospital and take ARV so they can be healthy like me.”

34 year old Wesley from Wamena is HIV positive, “I always encourage my friends to go to the hospital and take ARV so they can be healthy like me.” Photo: Andri Tambunan / iampositif.org

HIV/AIDS sufferers in Indonesia's Papua region continue to battle stigma and discrimination and a documentary-maker is trying to dispel the myths.

Indonesia-based photographer Andri Tambunan has been researching and filming in the region since 2009 and has produced films telling the stories of several people living with the disease.

Mr Tambunan has set up a website and is distributing information to NGOs to help educate people in Papua which suffers a rate twenty times higher than the national average.

He says it is still very risky for people there to reveal they have HIV/AIDS.

"I met a young man who, when he opened his status, he was kicked out of his family, he was attacked by some people in the community. I talked to another woman who people were just trying to kick her out from her house with an axe and machetes. I have people who were afraid to be burned alive."

Mr Tambunan says the Papua region's inequality, remoteness and lack of information have led to the high rate.

Mr Tambunan has been researching and documenting HIV/AIDS in Papua since 2009.

20 year old Meri from Pugima is HIV positive, "We should not reject people with hiv but instead give them support and encouragement."

20 year old Meri from Pugima is HIV positive, "We should not reject people with hiv but instead give them support and encouragement." Photo: Andri Tambunan / iampositif.org