JAKARTA, 30 November 2016—The Queen of Indonesian Rap, Denada Tambunan and the prominent actress Atiqah Hasiholan are among an impressive list of well-known celebrities who are supporting the #SayaBerani (I am Brave) campaign, ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December. This is one of the first major campaigns to widely use the power of social media to promote HIV testing in Indonesia.

Actress Atiqah Hasiholan supports #SayaBerani

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), community groups representing people living with HIV and key populations, the National AIDS Commission, the Atma Jaya AIDS Research Center and the media organization Rappler launched the campaign on 18 November.

The initiative aims to raise awareness about HIV testing among young people. It provides information on HIV, including where to get an HIV test and encourages supporters to share photographs of themselves with #SayaBerani written on their hands. The campaign is based on UNAIDS’ global Hands Up campaign which is promoting HIV prevention around the world.

“Getting an HIV test is painless, fast and confidential,” said David Bridger, UNAIDS Country Director for Indonesia. “There is no reason to be afraid. We are thrilled to have such wide support from celebrities, who are leveraging their extensive social media platforms to spread this message far and wide.”

Atiqah Hasiholan, the megastar of the movies such as Java Heat, La Tahzan and Jamila and the President posted a message to her more than one million instagram followers, which said, “I am putting up my hand to join #SayaBerani campaign to challenge the stigma associated with HIV and the fear of having an HIV test.”

Indonesia’s Queen of Rap, Denada Tambunan, was also one of the first celebrities to share a post on her instagram account. She wrote, “I join the #SayaBerani challenge to encourage women and young girls in Indonesia to be aware of the importance of knowing their HIV status and to take action in protecting themselves.”

Actor Marcelino Lefrandt supports #SayaBerani

The actors, Ferry Landa, Karina Salim, Marcelino Lefrandt, Mike Ethan and Nino Prabowo, as well as the just appointed UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for China, Huang Xiaoming, whose movies are popular in Indonesia have all supported #SayaBerani by posting photographs on their social media accounts.The model Ocha has taken the plunge and shared a campaign photograph taken underwater.

#SayaBerani has gained momentum and enjoyed support from a variety of noted social media influencers in Indonesia, including Alvian Maulana, Aryo Wibisono, Dazeninda, Dini Takola and Ricky Kapoyos.     

Globally, more than 14.5 million of the 36.7 million people living with HIV do not know their HIV status. In Indonesia alone, there were 690 000 people living with HIV and many do not know their status. Throughout Asia and the Pacific, young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV. Thirteen young people (age 15-24) are infected with HIV every hour in the region.

Countries, including Indonesia have committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 by reaching the 90-90-90 targets by 2020; these are that 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.  To reach these targets, countries must improve their effectiveness at reaching people most in need of HIV testing.  

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The campaign page is:http://www.rappler.com/indonesia/ayo-indonesia/sayaberani

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vqm5jtms4lw6hyw/AADTRAdartQxwJ2eWg5wx9n4a?dl=0

Contact

UNAIDS Bangkok | Saya Oka| tel. +66 2680 4128 | okas@unaids.org

UNAIDS Jakarta | Elis Widen | tel. +62 812 1970 449 | widene@unaids.org

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.