Co-locating art and health: engaging civil society to create an enabling environment to respond to HIV in Indonesia

Abstract

Background This paper will report on the successful co-location of a community-based arts and sexual health project that aimed to engage, educate and create testing, treatment and care pathways at a co-located mobile sexual health clinic and community-controlled art gallery in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Methods: Mixed methods were used to evaluate the project, including a visitor (n = 1181) and artist (n = 85) log book, a convenience audience survey (n = 231), and qualitative semi-structured interviews (n = 13) with artists and audience to explore the effect of arts-based activities on access to sexual health information and services, and stigma and discrimination. Results: In total, 85 artists curated five separate exhibitions that were attended by 1181 people, of which 62% were aged ≤24 years. Gallery attendance improved awareness and participatory and interactive engagement with sexual health information through a medium described as interesting, fun, cool, and unique. The co-located clinic facilitated informal pathways to sexual health services, including HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and care. Importantly, the project created shared understandings and empathy that challenged stereotypes and myths, reducing stigmatising beliefs and practices. Conclusions: Arts-based programs are transformative and can be effectively implemented, replicated and scaled up in low-resource settings to create awareness and initiate for HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and care. Art-based health programs engages people in their communities, mobilises civil society, builds enabling environments to reduce stigma and discrimination and improves access to testing and prevention; essential features needed to end AIDS in Indonesia (and the Southeast Asia region) while improving the lives of those most vulnerable to infection.