Denpasar, On late Friday afternoon, September 9th, Yakeba’s office in Denpasar suddenly filled with people. Thai Media reporters accompanied by representatives of the Thai Department of Disease Control and members of the local (Balinese) health department flocked into the meeting room and set up their equipment for the following presentation. Their visit at Yakeba was part of a trip to Indonesia in order to see the archipelago’s efforts in harm reduction related to injecting drug use (IDU). Harm reduction aims at reducing the social, health and economic harms associated with drug use and drug policies, with a special focus on the prevention of HIV and AIDS.

After a short introduction, Adi Mantara,  director of Yakeba, presented a slide show about Yakeba and its experience and success with harm reduction for  injecting drug users. A couple of years ago Yakeba has gained a region-wide reputation for its successful harm reduction program directed at the local IDU community. Through Yakeba’s comprehensive harm reduction program IDUs were provided with accurate information regarding HIV and AIDS, information on using drugs safely, sterile injecting equipment (including new needles, alcohol swabs and bleaching kits), free condoms and referral information on Methadone and VCT clinics. Yakeba has also been actively engaged in promoting human rights for people affected by drug addiction and HIV and AIDS. Activism led to the establishment of a daughter organization named IKON Bali, an organization of former drug users fighting for equal rights and a more human treatment of drug addicts and people living with HIV and AIDS.

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Gianyar, Once again Yakeba conducted HIV and AIDS awareness activities for the local community in Bali. Activities were carried out in conjunction with students from Gajah Mada University (UGM) and were part of a series of field work activities organized by them in Ubud, Gianyar regency. Yakeba’s involvement started on July 19th, in the village of Tempekan Padang Kencana in Ubud sub-district and ended on July 30, in the village of Padangdegal Mekarsari. The complete team of Yakeba was present during activities.

The purpose of the students’ field work activities was to increase public awareness about the dangers of HIV and AIDS and tackle the widespread stigma and discrimination related to the disease. In order to maximize the impact of the awareness activities, the UGM students’ committee formed a partnership with Yakeba. But apart from Yakeba also other community organizations took part in the activities, such as Kita Sayang Remaja (Kisara) and Yayasan Kerti Praja (YKP).

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Tabanan, This week I will write about Yakeba’s outreach work and peer support program in the regency of Tabanan. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the work done by Yakeba’s outreach workers and discuss some of the arising subjects.

Yakeba’s Tabanan office is located in the sub-district of Kediri, in eastern Tabanan regency. The Global Fund supported outreach and peer support program covers the entire regency of Tabanan, which is further divided into 10 sub-districts (kacamatan). With a population of almost half a Million people Tabanan is densely populated (as most parts of Bali) but has maintained a predominantly rural character. To reach all corners of the regency the outreach workers have to cover considerable distances, with road conditions being poor in many areas.

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Denpasar, On Thursday, 21st of July, Yakeba together with Sloka Institute organized a writing workshop at the premises of Yakeba in Denpasar.  The workshop served as capacity building for the Yakeba staff and its clients – members of “vulnerable communities”. Two facilitators from Sloka Institute were present,  Luh Deh Suriyani  and Anton Muhajir. Both are dedicated freelance journalists and members of the Bali Blogger Community. The workshop was attended by the complete Yakeba staff as well as a number of Yakeba’s clients.

Activities started with a short introduction of each participant. After this, Adi Mantara, director of Yakeba, held a short introduction statement. He explained that the purpose of this training was to equip the outreach workers, activists and members of high risk groups with new skills and knowledge related to writing. He emphasized that writing should be considered an important tool for outreach workers, as they are the ones who can best describe the situation in the field. This would not only improve their work performance but by writing they could also pass their experiences and knowledge on to the wider public. But also members of high risk groups should be able to voice their issues and concerns through writing as a way to empower themselves.

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Tabanan – Once more Yakeba updated its HIV and AIDS awareness directed at the general public, in an attempt to further reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Yakeba has been raising awareness among the general population since the year 2003.

On July 8th, 2011, Yakeba did an awareness session at Banjar Ole Delod Puri at Petiga village in the regency of Tabanan. The event was held at the request of local community leaders and is part of Yakeba’s effort to fight the HIV epidemic in Tabanan and Bali as a whole.

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Tabanan – The HIV & AIDS epidemic continues to evolve in the Province of Bali. The number of people getting infected with HIV is increasing fast, with the regency of Tabanan being no exception. Hence HIV & AIDS campaigns continue to be active in Tabanan as well as all over Bali.

On June 29^th, 2011, for the umpteenth time, Yakeba carried out awareness activities in the district of Tabanan. Activities took place at Banjar Pengembungan at a village called Tegaljadi and were organized by the Student AIDS Care Community (KMPA) of Bali Province and the regional branch of the National AIDS Commission (NAC). The KPA Tabanan delegated the matter to Yakeba and it was run by its director Adi Mantara.

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Denpasar – Yayasan Kesehatan Bali (Yakeba) is currently trying to improve its support services for the drug user. As part of this, Yakeba is preparing for its involvement with the Community Based Rehabilitation program (PABM). The PABM is one of the activities initiated by the National AIDS Commission (NAC) in order to increase the support for drug user.

Recently, two staff members of Yakeba (Alvin and Ruben) took part in a training session for addiction counselors in Bogor, West Java. Yakeba as an organization has a long history providing rehabilitation services, especially in the Province of Bali.

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Tabanan (22/06) Tabanan is one of the eight regencies of the Province of Bali. The regency is well known for its fertile soil, being the leading rice-producing regency in Bali. But as other areas on the island, Tabanan is not spared from the effects of the HIV and AIDS epidemic. In recent years there has been a sharp increase in new HIV infections, transmitted mostly through unprotected sex. As a consequence, the regency of Tabanan has increased, since 2009, the number of services to fight HIV and AIDS in the area.

In order to expand and improve HIV and AIDS services in the regency, a local regulation was introduced. It was high time for Tabanan, as most other regencies in Bali have already introduced such regulations at an earlier stage. The new regulation is also needed so as to better implement the provincial regulation no 3 of 2006 which deals with the problem of HIV and AIDS.

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Depok (8/05) In order to provide better services to the local drug user community, Yayasan Kesehatan Bali (Yakeba) participated in a workshop organized by the National AIDS Commission of Indonesia (KPAN). The workshop was facilitated by the Coalition of Indonesian Addiction Counselors (IKAI), an organization trusted by KPAN to provide good PABM (Community-Based Drug Dependency Treatment) service. The workshop lasted for three days, from the 6th till the 8th of June and took place at the Bumi Wiyata Hotel in Depok, West Java. A total of 12 participants attended, constituting of members of all the PABM implementing organizations in Indonesia.

The goal of the workshop was to improve the implementation of Community-Based Drug Dependency Treatment (PABM in Indonesian). The first phase of Community-Based Drug Dependency Treatment started in 2009 and Yakeba was involved from November 2009 until August 2010.

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