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View all search resultsWomen with HIV face persistent, layered discrimination
Stigma against people with HIV puts the lives of women who contract the virus in jeopardy, as discrimination may block them from opportunities for better lives and proper health treatment.
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A student holds a red ribbon on Dec. 2, 2018, as part of an awareness event on World AIDS Day in Medan, North Sumatra. World AIDS Day has been observed today since 1988 to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic. (AFP/Albert Ivan Damanik)
L
ife dramatically changed for Nining Ivana when she tested positive for HIV during a medical checkup for a job 21 years ago. She was 20 when she lost her job and had to face an illness she barely understood.
Her health gradually improved after getting free antiretroviral (ARV) medication from a nonprofit organization. But stigma has continued to shut her out of opportunities.
“I imagined working in a neighboring country, saving enough money and eventually moving to a more developed country,” she told The Jakarta Post on Friday. “But all of those were blocked because of [HIV].”
Even finding work at home was not easy: “Whenever I applied to some companies, I was scared there would be medical screening, including an HIV test.”
Health screenings for formal employment sometimes include HIV testing, whether openly or covertly, despite a 2004 Manpower Ministry regulation prohibiting employers from using such tests as a recruitment requirement and banning testing without consent.
Now, Nining has been working for the Positive Indonesia Network (JIP) since 2019, where her status is not something she must hide and she does not have to face discrimination at work. She now advocates for people living with HIV nationwide, while also serving as Jakarta coordinator for the Indonesian Positive Women’s Network (IPPI).
Women with HIV in Indonesia have been facing what experts call “layered discrimination” and mental burden from having contracted the virus, potentially blocking life opportunities as well as proper health treatment.
