Background
HIV cases are increasing at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital and, unfortunately, there are still health workers who are reluctant to handle HIV positive patients for fear of being infected themselves. These health workers often have a poor understanding of how HIV and other infections spread. A hand-wash survey performed at the obstetrics emergency room showed that only 17,24% of the health providers wash their hands before and after caring for a patient. Many of them also failed to wear proper protection during medical procedures.

About the project
This project was created to reduce the HIV/AIDS stigma and improve the knowledge of HIV transmission and hand-washing practices among health workers at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital. The project team arranged eight training sessions on HIV/AIDS transmission for midwives, nurses and doctors. The participants were then asked to perform on-job training at the infectious ward and the perinatal ward, in order to observe the attitude and behavior of the health providers working there. The staff at these wards had good routines for both handwashing and protecting themselves against HIV/AIDS, which the participants were encouraged to learn from.

Results
By the end of the project, 122 health workers had participated in the training and increased their knowledge on HIV transmission and prevention, which helped reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Before the project, 20% of the doctors and 0% of the midwives washed their hands before attending to patients. After the project, this increased to 38% of the doctors and 52% of the midwives.

Year: 2009