By Dr. Luh Putu Upadisari | Director and Founder
The year 2014 marks 10 years since YRS began our program activities in Traditional Markets alongside the community to increase women's knowledge and awareness about Sexual and Reproductive Health. During that time, more than 10,000 women have accessed YRS services.
Entering the 11th year of working with the community, especially with women through our Centre of Sexual and Reproductive Health in traditional markets, YRS is committed to increasing the range and improving the quality of our services, not only limited to the existing services at Pasar Badung and Intaran in South Bali, but also our services in Singaraja, North Bali. We hope that the scope for the number of women accessing our services is widened in an effort to create a healthier generation through women's health in accordance with YRS’ vision and mission.
In following up from our previous update, we are happy to announce that this week marks the end of our HELM campaign where YRS promoted safety in the bedroom and safety on the roads by distributing 200 free helmets to clients who came in for a sexual and reproductive health check at our clinic in the Intaran Market, Sanur. During this time, the majority of services accessed by the Sanur community were for Pap smear examinations, breast examinations, and STI, RTI and HIV tests. This HELM campaign had a very positive impact for the community and increased their interest in visiting the YRS clinic for an examination, which can be seen from a rise in the number of visits than usual since November 2013.
As mentioned in our previous update, the HELM campaign coincided with World AIDS Day on 1st December, and YRS used this opportunity to build momentum in providing information and education about the issue to the market community. If we look at the cases of HIV based on the cumulative rate, Bali occupies the second position after Papua[1], where the number of reported HIV and AIDS cases in Bali reached 7,856 (May 2013), ranking fifth across the nation for the number of AIDS cases [2]. Now HIV cases in Bali indicate the possibility of HIV spreading to the general population, not just high-risk groups and it has been found that 1.2% of pregnant women in Bali were infected with HIV from their partner [3]. YRS will continue to help alleviate the issue of HIV in Bali through the provision of education services and encouraging the community to undertake HIV tests.
I feel a sense of pride and gratitude to the entire community, especially the women at the Traditional Markets, for their trust and acceptance of our activities that we have built together over the past 10 years to provide added value in life: for better health and a better life.
We’d like to thank everyone for their generous support and attention they have given to YRS, in the form of funds, time, ideas, venues and moral support, which has enabled YRS to come so far. I sincerely hope that what we have achieved can contribute to providing the best life possible for our clients.
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[1] Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia, 2011
[2] Dinas kesehatan Provinsi Bali, 2013
[3] Wirawan, 2011
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