Positive Living Fund

What is the Positive Living Fund?  

Due to lack of education and awareness, there is a prevailing negative stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS in Bali. Unfortunately, this can lead to people living with HIV being ostracized from their families and their communities. The Positive Living Fund was created as a response to this situation and offers temporary non-medical support to people in these circumstances.

The Positive Living Fund provides temporary relief including food, milk and school fees. Recipients are assessed by our team regularly and where possible, government support is obtained (mostly for medical/hospitalisation). The aim is to empower the recipients to become independent, with a little help to get them back on their feet.

Through the Positive Living Fund, Bali Peduli provides vital help for mothers and children with HIV. Members of the Outreach team act as buddies to ensure adherence. Recipients exit the program after an average of 3 – 6 months. After this time, Bali Peduli continues to support them, with members of the outreach team acting as buddies to ensure medication adherence and management of viral load.

Why was the Positive Living Fund established?

When Bali Peduli launched the Gianyar Outreach Program in January 2013 our team was suddenly brought face-to-face with situations that had not been anticipated. Our outreach team found women and children, mostly HIV+, being cast out of family compounds following the deaths of their husbands and fathers due to HIV related illnesses.

This was occurring mainly due to the stigma associated with HIV, and for economic reasons this resulted in mothers and children falling off the care grid for lack of support. In other cases children had been orphaned (with both parents having died of HIV related sickness) and were living with extended families or elderly grandparents with limited resources and some have dropped out of school.

Though not part of the original program plan, it became clear and urgent that the program be expanded to include basic non-medical support for these situations including food, housing, and school expenses for children. In mid-2013 Bali Peduli launched the Positive Living Fund to raise funds for this purpose.