By Dong de los Reyes December 29, 2022 (L-R) Quezon Governor Angelina Tan, and the DASH Quezon Province Team; DASH Vice PRESIDENT -Rofel Arg...
December 29, 2022
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| (L-R) Quezon Governor Angelina Tan, and the DASH Quezon Province Team; DASH Vice PRESIDENT -Rofel Argolida. Dash advisors RUSSEL ELLOSO( case manager from PROTECTS ; Psfi AND VON QUINTILLIANO ( peer navigator: from Protects ; PSFI . CHRISTIAN M. AYAG Provincial STI/HIV-AIDS Prevention and Control Program, Nurse Coordinator, ANTONINO DIMAANO ANILAO ; DASH PRESIDENT and Frederick Salongga; RN. Founder and Chairman of DASH Quezon Province Inc. (Photo from ANTONINO DIMAANO ANILAO ; DASH PRESIDENT) |
LUCENA CITY - Quezon chief executive Dr. Angelina "Helen" Tan would rather skip the fanfare and rites commemorating a day of awareness about the deadly malady, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and its precursor human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Health officials reported that as of July 2022, there were 1,346 confirmed HIV-positive individuals in the country- the National Capital Region (NCR) had 382, followed by CALABARZON with 265 and Central Luzon with 143 cases.
The numbers had prompted Gov. Tan to state "we need to be proactive on information dissemination at ang challenge talaga na kinakaharap natin ay ang access sa screening and testing na napakahalaga.
"Hindi ako sanay na walang ginagawa at nagcecelebrate lang on the day. Kailangan mayroon tayong day to day activities para sa pagsugpo ang HIV at ng iba pang diseases na nakakahawa," she said.
The community-based group in Quezon Province, Dealing Against the Stigma of HIV (DASH) had consoled victims that once one tests positive for the dreaded human immunodeficiency virus, earnest counseling on how to cope with the condition begins- no cure has yet been found for the HIV menace, it can only be managed like the deadlier diabetes that ravages millions. It is not a dead-end, it is a new beginning for the victim.
Of the HIV cases reported in July, 95 percent or 1,273 were male while 73 were female. "Of the total reported cases, 1,307 or 97 percent were transmitted through sexual contact — 913 of them involving male-to-male sex, 242 through sex with male and female while 84 cases were male to female sex," according to Department of Health records.
Dr. Tan reiterated that with the inauguration of the mocelcular laboratory of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, she asked the RITM to help put up new facility at the Quezon Medical Center for HIV confirmatory tests.
She noted that "bukod dito ay kasama rin tayo ng IPHO kung saan iniisa-isa natin lahat ng programa na pwede nating gawin in the succeeding months kapartner ang ating mga coordinators at municipal health offices.
"Sama-sama tayo sa laban na ito. Mas magiging maingay ang ating panawagan na buwagin ang diskriminasyon at ipaglaban ang pantay na pagtingin at ang pagbibigay ng maaasahang lunas para sa ating mga kababayang may ganitong karamdaman," the stressed.
HIV doesn't end dreams
Ostracism, homophobia, depression, dread even disgust from once-close friends and next-of-kin beleaguer the HIV victim, who often feels more hopeless than hapless. DASH offers more than a snippet of cheer and renewed hope for life.
DASH Chair Frinz Salonga and President Antonino Anilao affirmed this commitment to the Quezon community- despite lack of logistics and funding support from global grants-giving bodies and their national counterparts.
"A virus does not end your dreams," Anilao asserts, and adds, "it can be managed."
DASH took to the challenge in 2017 when 871 new HIV cases turned up; by February 2018, 132 cases- or second to the highest number- were reported from the Calabarzon region. Health statistics cite that "the Philippines has one of the lowest rates of infection, yet has one of the fastest growing number of cases worldwide."
In response to the growing menace, Quezon Medical Center - Live Positive Wellness Hub was listed as one of the DOH Designated HIV treatment centers in Region 4-A.
DASH explains that the HIV stigma stems from "lack of knowledge among the people."
DASH bats for a remedy to such lack with grassroots information and community-based drives for screening tests, even "pride" beauty pageants become platforms for propagating information meant to go viral to erase the HIV stigma.
Once a victim tests positive for the virus, DASH musters its forces to keep the victim's identity in secret, and earnest counselling is ushered to allay the victim's anxieties and apprehensions.
Such support is meant to bring the victim back on his feet to face kith and kin, and come to terms with and understanding of the disease.
Statistics show that victims are concentrated among men who have sex with men, that multiplied over 10 times since 2010. Too, victims are getting younger; Anilao cites a 15- year old victim whom he counsels.
There is hope for the victim who needs to take medications-- given for free- for a length of time until a stage is reached when tests would show no indication of the virus in the victim's body, Anilao informs.
At that stage, the victim can freely interact, even engage in sex. But the medications continue.
By then, the victim has gained keener awareness about sexual health and is warier about engaging in sex, promiscuity goes out the window.
DASH clarifies that it isn't HIV that kills the victim. As the viruses multiply in the host's body, compromising the body's immunity to combat and win over a host of maladies, the immune system rendered helpless falls prey to sickness, usually pneumonia and pulmonary tuberculosis.
For her part, Dr. Tan assures Quezonians that "as your governor and as a health advocate, I do understand na mayroon talagang kakulangan at alam natin na sa kabila nito ay marami tayong magagawa para sa ating mga kababayan."
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