Ang Paglalantad: HIV and AIDS in the Philippines

Last week, (Dec. 1-6, 2013) the University Student Council in partnership with various organizations in UP Diliman brought to us HIV-AIDS Awareness week. On December 3, 2013, a forum entitled "Ang Paglalantad: HIV and AIDS in the Philippines" was held in the College of Mass Communication Auditorium. The forum was led by Dr. Enrique Tayag from the Department of Health. In the forum, I knew more about HIV and AIDS in the Philippines. I became more aware of the virus and how it can affect the lives of Filipinos.

                                              The poster of the HIV AIDS Awareness Week. 

In the middle of the forum, a question popped in of my mind, "Where did this virus come from?" One student  then incidentally asked Dr. Tayag on the history of the virus. Dr. Tayag said the virus is a zoonosis. This means that it came from animals and was transferred to humans under natural conditions. The HIV virus particularly came from macaque monkeys, these monkeys were eaten by African bushmen which lead to the spread of the virus to the different parts of the globe.

The panelists answering questions from students.

I learned that the virus can only be transferred from one person to another through infectious fluids such as, vaginal fluid, semen, blood, and breast milk. I remembered one student asked if the virus can be transferred by using the spoon of an infected. Dr. Tayag answered, "No, but if there is blood on the spoon of the infected and another person used his/her spoon and the person has a wound inside his mouth, then there is a high possibility that the virus can be transferred." Dr. Tayag said that the blood is a crucial infectious fluid. He told us about a place in Cebu, where people shared needles for analgesic drugs or drugs that relieves pain selectively without blocking the conduction of nerve impulses (britannica.com) and those people who shared needles with each other all became positive.

In the Philippines, I was surprised knowing that 1 Filipino gets infected of the virus in every 2 hours. Most infected are males having sex with males, 4 out of 100 males are infected,  with age groups 15-24, and 25-43. Half of the infected population came from NCR, and all cities in Manila are in Category A (highest infected category) and the locust of infection is in Quezon city. Dr. Tayag also informed us that 6 of 10 infected males indulge in anal sex, and in anal sex, the receptive partner gets the higher risk. After presenting the numbers, Dr. Tayag encouraged us students to use condoms to protect ourselves from being infected.

Today, many organizations are now aiming to reduce the trend of HIV in the Philippines. One of them is ACHIEVE, an organization found in 2000 who focused on HIV and AIDS cases with immigrants and OFW workers. ACHIEVE gives regular awareness seminars, gender and age mainstreaming trainings in HIV programs, and basic orientation seminar on gender and sexuality. They also address gender-based violence among people living with HIV in the Philippines and the needs and rights of the young key affected population in the Philippines.

The panelists with their certificate of participation.

By the end of the forum, the panelists showed to us a healthy reminder on what we can do to reduce the trend of HIV and AIDS in the Philippines. They also distributed condoms to the students.

To sum it all up, the forum was very informative to us students. It helped us students to become aware of HIV and AIDS especially in the Philippines.