There are two kinds of people in this world: people who put ketchup on the side of their fries and people who put ketchup all over them. There are people who share knowledge to prevent HIV/AIDS and those who just sweep the issue under the rug and hope that it will clean up by itself.

Fortunately, The National Aids Control Commission in Central Java belongs to the first kind of people. According to recent findings in September 2015, the number of HI positive people reached the devastating number of 12.814 in Central Java. Most of the infected are 25 to 29 years old.

In relation to this findings, The National Aids Control Commission in Central Java invited high school students to participate in their preventive HIV/AIDS workshop held in SMAN 5 Semarang on the 15th of January 2016. They believe that the generation most prone to be infected by AIDS are teenagers aged 14 to 15 and therefore the perfect target audience for this kind of campaign are high school students.

This campaign, whose main aim is to share comprehensive knowledge as to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS is welcomed with enthusiasm by the students, the adults -and of course from us!

The National Aids Control Commission are hoping to organize these workshops on a regular basis and we are totally supporting this. It’s important that teenagers get the most credible information about this issue, so that they are well prepared with knowledge and can protect themselves. Knowledge is the best preventive measure to prevent young people to get infected with the HIV virus. Way to go Central Java!

Written by Arinda Wijaya in Jakarta, Indonesia