The teenage years are full of the drive to try new things. Not infrequently, without thinking, teenagers do something risky that eventually they cannot deal with alone.
By
ADHITYA RAMADHAN/DEONISIA ARLINTA
·3 minutes read
A comprehensive understanding of HIV needs to be conveyed to teenagers. Sufficient information will guide them through their teenage years without any significant risks.
The teenage years are full of the drive to try new things. Not infrequently, without thinking, teenagers do something risky that eventually they cannot deal with alone.
I was influenced by the environment around me, so I fell into risky behavior. I know the health risks, but I can\'t control them.
SK, 23, from Sentani, Papua, said he often changed sexual partners and rarely used a condom.
“I was influenced by the environment around me, so I fell into risky behavior. I know the health risks, but I can\'t control them," SK on Sunday (25/7/2021).
Every three months, SK would take an HIV test at a health facility. In his fifth HIV test, he was diagnosed HIV positive.
“It was 2019. I was in shock all day. I could not sleep; no appetite, thinking about the test results," he said.
SK was advised to go to an HIV service. The doctor at the service then calmed and encouraged SK and told him that there were antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for HIV. Since then, SK has been taking ARVs regularly. His viral load or the amount of the HIV virus in his body is no longer detectable (suppressed).
He cannot reveal his status to his family because of the strong stigma and discrimination given their limited knowledge. According to SK, the surrounding community still thinks that anyone with HIV will transmit the virus to others. In fact, when the HIV virus is undetectable in the body, that person cannot transmit it to other people.
"I’ve only told close friends. They really support me, remind me to take medicine,” SK said.
Now, SK accompanies and counsels a number of HIV-positive young people in his city. He hopes the local administration will issue policies on HIV prevention programs that target young people more seriously.
Do not understand
A different story came from Sepi “Davi” Ardiansyah Maulana, a 29-year-old from Cianjur, West Java.
He was sexually harassed in high school and later became a sex worker, before being diagnosed with HIV in his early 20s.
"After the case at the school, I fled to Jakarta," he recalled.
Davi\'s understanding of HIV at that time was minimal. He did not understand what his HIV positive status meant to him. What he knew was that being HIV positive, most people would die.
After testing HIV positive, he did not immediately take ARV drugs. Only in 2013 did Davi start taking ARVs after seeing his HIV-positive friends dying.
Now, he is active in Inti Muda Indonesia educating teenagers and young people about HIV about avoiding the risky behaviors of HIV infection.
Both SK and Davi regularly take ARVs until the virus in their bodies is no longer detected. ARV consumption not only plays a role in therapy, but also functions as prevention.
The national coordinator of the Indonesian Positive Women\'s Association (IPPI) Ayu Oktariani, 35, said literacy related to HIV treatment was still minimal. In fact, with regular treatment, HIV infection can be controlled.
With a suppressed viral load, women with HIV can still get pregnant without having to transmit HIV to their unborn child.
Ayu is now married to a man who is not infected with HIV. Neither does she transmit the HIV virus.