Dr Luh Putu Lila Wulandari and Dr Benjamin Bavinton – HIV testing and prevention in key populations in Bali, Indonesia

Event date
Tuesday 27th August 2019
Event time
1:00 PM
Event address
Berg Family Foundation Seminar Room, Level 6, Wallace Wurth Building, Kensington Campus, UNSW Sydney

Location:

Berg Family Foundation Seminar Room, Level 6, Wallace Wurth Building, Kensington Campus, UNSW Sydney

Contact for enquiries 

Rata Joseph, +61 (2) 9385 0900 or recpt@kirby.unsw.edu.au

Kirby Institute Seminar Series presents

Dr Luh Putu Lila Wulandari  

Dr Luh Putu Lila Wulandari

PhD Student and Research Fellow, Public Health Interventions Research Group and Surveillance Evaluation and Research Program, Kirby Institute

Luh Putu Lila Wulandari was a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University in Bali, Indonesia. She has undertaken various research projects and program evaluation consultancy work in reproductive health and HIV for the Bali Provincial AIDS Commission and various international NGOs in Indonesia. She was involved with the Kirby Institute’s Field Research Training Programme in Indonesia, initially as a trainee and for the last several years as a mentor. Her PhD at the Kirby Institute focuses on improving HIV testing among clients of female sex workers in Indonesia and examining strategies to address HIV among this largely under-researched population.

   
Dr Benjamin Bavinton  

Dr Benjamin Bavinton

Research Fellow, HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Program, Kirby Institute

Benjamin Bavinton has worked in the field of HIV prevention and research for 15 years in Australia and internationally. He is a research fellow at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, focusing on the biomedical, behavioural and epidemiological aspects of HIV prevention among gay and bisexual men in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. His current projects are on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), identifying gaps in HIV prevention in Australia, and sexual behaviour among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

 

Abstract

In this seminar, Dr Wulandari and Dr Bavinton will provide an overview of the HIV epidemic in Bali, Indonesia, and present research data on two key populations affected by HIV in that setting. First, men who purchase sex (MWPS) are identified as a key priority population for HIV prevention, yet in Indonesia, HIV testing rates are <10% among the 5.2 million MWPS in this country. Dr Wulandari will present some of the key findings of her thesis where she explores the uptake and acceptability of HIV self-testing among MWPS, when offered at brothels by lay workers. Second, men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (known locally as waria) are also a priority population for HIV prevention in Indonesia. In Bali, HIV prevalence has increased substantially in this population, yet there are limited behavioural data. Dr Bavinton will present results from a behavioural survey conducted with MSM and waria in 2018.