Tagged with HIV/AIDS …

Nov 12 2010
2 Comments
Health, LGBT rights, Sexual Health

Four out of five

When health experts warned that the face of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines is changing, I didn’t expect that it’ll be all too familiar. They said that it is on the rise, that it doubled from 2007 to 2009, that most of the new cases have been acquired through homosexual and bisexual contact, and that the prevalence in some cities in the country have reached epidemic proportions already.

Last month, five new cases of HIV infection were reported everyday, four of which are considered MSM, or men who have sex with other men. A decade ago, Sarah Jane Salazar, Dolzura Cortez, and a member of PinoyPlus who spoke in a safer sex training that we had – those were only faces of people living with HIV/AIDS that I knew.

Four out of five. A friend passed away due to AIDS-related complications a few weeks ago. He was about my age, and tested positive last January. He didn’t want anyone to know, so he went to a province to see an albularyo. A matter between life and death, but he chose quackery over treatment that could have extended his life.

And it was a decision that leaves you dry – you get it, you understand why he did it and what drove him to it, and yet it’s confounding. It’s maddeningly confounding. It’s like when you hear of that story about mothers who wash used condoms so they can be re-used. Or that kid in Indonesia who is happily smoking a cigarette.  Maddeningly incomprehensible, and exasperatingly explainable.

His family said that he died of pneumonia. Most of his friends were told that it was dengue that did him.

Four out of five. I’ve been giving out  the contact details of a support group for Filipinos living with HIV/AIDS – before to friends of friends, but now to close friends. HIV is not a death sentence, and I am lucky to be surrounded by close friends who share that message.

I don’t mean to sow panic, because panic combined with lack of awareness would only push more to quackery. You don’t case studies or numbers to understand that – just listen to a frothing Bishop.

But I want you to know that the trend is alarming. And the first step that we all should take is to acknowledge the writing on the wall.

———

Go to TLF Share’s Facebook page to get updates on HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with men in the Philippines.

Tagged ,
Sep 13 2008
3 Comments
Sexual Health

Spreading HIV/AIDS in schools

If we are to believe these officials from the Commission on Higher Education, allowing students living with HIV/AIDS to enroll in our schools and universities would help spread the virus among students.

Last Wednesday, I was in the Technical Working Group of the Committee on Higher Education of the House of Representatives, where several bills strengthening the rights of students were being tackled. Akbayan’s version of the bill, which we call the Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Bill, has this provision:

“Section 5. Admission and non-discrimination. – No student shall be denied admission, expelled from an educational institution, punished with disciplinary action, including mandatory counseling, or denied welfare services, scholarships and other privileges on the basis of his/her physical handicap, socio-economic status, political and religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, or membership in student organizations. Pregnant students, certified reformed drug abusers, and students with HIV/AIDS shall not be discriminated against.”

Somehow, the line on sexual orientation, gender identity, membership in student organizations, as well as the non-discrimination clause for students with HIV/AIDS, got omitted when the committee consolidated the bills to formulate the substitute bill. We therefore moved to have the original text restored during the Technical Working Group.

Surprisingly, the re-inclusion of the non-discrimination clause for students with HIV/AIDS was opposed by officials from CHED, specifically by Atty. Carmelita Yadao-Sison of the Legal Service Unit and Dr. Catherine Castañeda of the Office of Student Services. They said that the specific mention of HIV/AIDS as a ground for discrimination is short-sighted since other infectious diseases might emerge in the future. While they have nothing against the right to education of those with HIV/AIDS, they fear that allowing them into our schools and universities would only help spread the virus among students and among young Filipinos. They added that a possible compromise is to limit the non-discrimination clause only to those who have already been “certified cured” of HIV/AIDS. Continue reading →

Tagged , , ,