Today, Yakeba’s office plays “host” to a number of projects, including:
1. The HIV/AIDS Prevention & Care for Indonesia (HPCI) Project ~ funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)
This project (which began in 2005) is an intensive Outreach & Harm Reduction Program aimed at Injecting Drug Users (IDU)
IDU are offered a comprehensive package ~ called a NEP package ~ consisting of:
• Accurate information regarding HIV/AIDS
• Information about using drugs safely
• Sterile injecting equipment including new needles, alcohol swabs and bleaching kits
• Free condoms
• Referral information to the Methadone Clinic and Voluntary Counseling & Testing (VCT)
2. Voluntary Counseling & Testing (VCT) Project
The specific goals of VCT are to:
a. Encourage people to initiate and sustain behavior change;
b. Help people obtain referrals to additional medical, preventive, psycho-social, or other care and services; and
c. Provide a safe opportunity for people to learn their HIV status.
Yakeba has a trained and experienced VCT Counselor in the name of Pak Yudho. Yakeba offers in-house VCT to anyone wishing to know their HIV status, but offers this service particularly for IDU referred by the outreach workers.
Clients are pre-counseled before a blood sample is taken for testing; and post-counseled at the time the results are giver to the clients. Further counseling is also available on an on-going basis.
CD4 Testing
If a client is HIV+, the next step is CD4 testing ~ a test to count the number of white cells in the bloodstream. Healthy individuals (HIV-) usually have a count of between 1,000 to 1,200 such cells per ml of blood. As the HIV virus begins to multiply, the number of CD4 cells begins to decrease.
AIDS
The condition commonly known as AIDS kicks in when the CD4 level is 200 or below.
ARV
Antiretroviral drugs are universally available in Indonesia to any person in the AIDS stadium and the Yakeba staff support all those seeking treatment.
Yakeba’s staff supports all its clients in CD4 testing ~ accompanying them to the clinic where their blood is taken and following them afterwards.
3 Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi (YKIP) Project
Let YKIP’s website (http://www.ykip.org/yakeba.asp) speak for itself:
YKIP and the Annika Linden Foundation (ALF) are concerned about the rise of substance abuse and HIV/AIDS among young people in Bali. There are more than 600,000 young people in Bali aged 15-24 ~ with more than 200,000 still in school. Furthermore, many teenage children in Bali have to cope with anxiety and stress suffered as a result of the aftermath of the Bali bombings. One way of coping is turning to drugs and alcohol. Most young people become infected with the HIV virus due to a lack of awareness, or turn to drugs and alcohol because they are unaware of the potential dangers.
By funding the YAKEBA (Foundation for Health in Bali) School Awareness program, we are hopeful that we can drive the statistics of substance abuse down while bringing the awareness quotient up.
This is an interactive project whereby a “teenage-friendly” doctor goes into a school with former drug addicts and an upbeat attitude and a commitment to helping teens learn about the dangers of alcohol and drug use and how these can lead to HIV/AIDS. The doctor provides accurate information relating to HIV/AIDS & drug abuse; thereby increasing the students “awareness” of the current situation in Bali. This is done with cartoons and funny charts via an Overhead Projector with the doctor constantly asking the students questions about themselves and the material. Those students who answer correctly get a “door prize”—writing utensils, notebooks and the like. Those who answer incorrectly are given the right information.
The former addicts then “talk story” – telling of how they got involved with drugs and how it ruined their lives. The addicts are in their late teens or early twenties and easy for the students to relate to —and listen to (an important factor when dealing with teens).
The students are provided with a list of people and organizations for obtaining further information ~ in particular for those who already have emerging drug/alcohol problems as well as referral information about drug rehabilitation, HIV antibody testing, youth sex education etc
This school program has been extended and Yakeba now has a similar program aimed at village youth.
In 2008 Yakeba reached 19,333 young people in Bali: 12,136 high school students and 7,197 village youth
4 Stop TB Project
This project is funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and aims at engaging People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) who are also living with TB. It also aims at helping shape policy-making at a local level by way of advocacy.
The main objective of this project is to move the target population from being consumers and patients to participating in the collective process of becoming more informed, motivated and empowered; and becoming responsible for creating and carrying out their own roles of leadership, representation agenda, activities and tasks.
5 Human Rights Project
Yakeba has two human rights projects at the moment, and is fighting for the human rights of IDU and PLWA.
The projects are funded by the Open Society Institute (an arm of the George Soros Foundation) and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations.
Issues include:
• Police violence on arrest and during incarceration
• Insufficient health services while on remand or during incarceration
• The right to rehabilitation as an alternative to prison
6 Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) Project
This project aims to provide harm reduction strategies specifically aimed at “kucing” ~ young Indonesian boys who offer sex to westerners for money.
Information about HIV/AIDS is provided, along with free condoms and lube. Clients are also referred to VCT and other health services
7 Rehabilitation Center
This project began in 2009 with the help of YKIP and ALF.
It aims to help rehabilitate injecting drug users.
8 KUBE Project
Funded partially by the Department of Social Welfare, this project provides opportunities for ex-addicts to learn handcrafting skills such as making soap, candles and incense sticks. The project also has a small kiosk selling nasi campur etc
9 Women’s Court on Trafficking and HIV Project
There will be a Court in Bali in August of 2009, hosted by the Asian Women’s Human Rights Council (AWHRC) and the UNDP.
Yakeba is working with these agencies to ensure the success of the project.