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Monday, December 08, 2003
11 Ilonggo HIV positives in Iloilo City form NGO
By Leo Solinap
FOR peer support, access to inexpensive medicines and quality treatment, 11 persons living with HIV/Aids (PLWHAs) will be coming out in public next month to establish a non-government organization.
All of them are Ilonggos.
This might be the first time in the country outside Manila that a group of PLWHAs merged to create a group to help, educate and support other Ilonggos who are HIV positive who are in need and have no one to go to for help.
With the help of the Department of Health Center for Health Development(DOH-CHD) 6, a PLWH identified as "Don" told SUn.Star he decided to search for other Ilonggo PLWHAs who are in need of peer support so they could have access to inexpensive medicines like the anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) and have quality treatment.
"Don" said because there is no NGO in Iloilo City helping PLWHAs, this is the time that they have to organize themselves and call on other PWLHAs especially those who are still in the stages of denial to join them.
He said their organization is an extension group of the Positive Action Foundation Philippines Inc. (Pafpi) based in Manila, which is an organization with programs focused on HIV/Aids and PWLHAs.
"Don" said this is the place for Ilonggo PLWHAs who are looking for organizations in Iloilo City who can provide support for HIV positives.
"The main purpose of this organization is general support for people living with HIV and AIDS, access to treatment and information dissemination on HIV/AIDS," "Don" said.
Their headquarters is expected to be inaugurated on January in one of Iloilo City's districts.
He said their present group consists of 11 active members, seven of which are already in the acceptance stage.
"I didn't find these people from DOH, Western Visayas Medical Center, different NGOs, Iloilo City Health, Social Hygiene Clinic but through doctors who knew my status. It's through their referrals that we were able to meet," Don said.
"Don" has difficulties in reaching other PWLHAs since they are in the denial stage especially if they have partners who have not been tested for HIV antibody tests.
ARV drugs
"Don" said that without the help of the organization, each PWLHA has to spend as much as P30,000 to P45,000 every month on ARV drugs alone.
However, if one becomes a member, a PLWHA will spend only P1,500 monthly because the ARV drugs are being purchased through the help of the Pafpi. The medicine is not intended for commercial use but only for the members.
"Arlene," a PLWHA from Pafpi, who was in Iloilo City last week to help "Don" find a place where they can establish their organization, said the effects of expensive and branded ARV drugs are the same as the generic ARV drugs they are taking.
"Arlene" and "Don" said they are now ready to face the people of Iloilo City despite what they may think about them. Their intentions are good, they said, especially in helping other PLWHAs.
"PLWHAs can expect socialization, good quality medical services and workshop activities that can help them improve their lives," "Don" said.
Opportunity
Joshua Formentera, president and executive director of Pafpi, confirmed that they will inaugurate their extension NGO in Iloilo City next month with "Don" as its head.
Formentera told Sun.Star the program will give Ilonggo PLWHAs, who are yet to come out, an opportunity to reach out and be aware that they have a place to seek help.
For the Pafpi, its mission is continuing the fight for HIV/Aids prevention and control and facilitating support responses to the need of PLWHAs and their families.
According to section 34 of the Republic Act 8504 or "The Philippine Aids Prevention and Control Act of 1998," the local government unit (LGU), through its health, social welfare and population officer, in collaboration or partnership with the concerned government agencies, NGOs, private sector organizations and establishments, people living with HIV/Aids, shall develop and support services for the prevention and control of HIV/Aids and care of PLWHAs and their families in the community.
These services include HIV/Aids/STD education and information campaign, counseling, home-based care, organizing community-based HIV/Aids support groups including PLWHAs, networking of HIV/Aids support group and HIV/Aids referral system.
For "Arlene" and "Don," they are not here to scare the people of Iloilo City about the presence of HIV/Aids but to help other PLWHAs, who are still in hiding, to be aware, educated and sensitive about HIV/Aids issues so that discrimination and stigma from the public will be eradicated.
"Arlene" and "Don" revealed that there are already people in Iloilo City infected with HIV. If helped earlier, they would have not been in the Aids stage. With the aid of the organization, they might have lengthened their life, they said.
"Arlene" was infected with HIV through her husband who is a former seafarer while "Don" was infected with HIV through his wife, who is a nurse in the US, who had an accidental needle prick.
"Arlene" and "Don" were doing advocacy work in Iloilo City last week especially on discrimination, stigma and education on the issues of HIV/Aids.
Full support
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treņas told Sun.Star that he will give his full support to the organization and those who will form it.
"I will give them my full support because as what I have learned there is no organization outside Manila like this," he said.
Treņas said that the Ilonggos should not look at PLWHAs in a negative way.
Instead, they should be lauded for their effort to make this organization a reality for the sole purpose of helping other people living with HIV/Aids in Iloilo City and giving them right education and information to avoid discrimination and stigma, he said.
It was Treņas who signed City Ordinance 2002-237, which is an "Ordinance Promulgating Policies for the Prevention and Control of STI/HIV/Aids cases in Iloilo City."
The ordinance was passed through the sponsorship of Councilor Erwin Plagata. It was drafted by the staff of Kabalaka Reproductive Health Center, an outreach program of the College of Nursing of the Central Philippine University with funding from Program for Appropriate Technology on Health (Path) and USAid.
Modes of transmission
There are four ways in which a person can be infected with HIV -- vaginal, cervical and seminal fluids, blood and breast feeding.
According to the latest HIV/Aids Registry released last September, 85 percent of the reported mode of transmission is sexual contact; 0.7 percent, blood transfusion; 0.3 percent, intravenous drug use; 0.2 percent, needle prick injuries; 1.4 percent, perinatal; and 11.4 percent, unknown mode of transmission.
There are already 1,935 recorded cases of HIV/Aids in the Philippines from January 1984 to September 2003.
Aids or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a condition characterized by a combination of signs and symptoms, caused by HIV infection contracted from another which attacks and weakens the body's immune system, making the afflicted individual susceptible to other life-threatening infections.
Iloilo City is one of the sentinel sites on HIV/Aids cases among sex workers considered by the DOH. Others cities are Baguio, Angeles, Pasay, Quezon, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, General Santos and Zamboanga.
(December 8, 2003 issue)
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