Pinoy PLHIV Youth Chronicles – Journey to Self-Worth

We have chronicled the lives of two young PLHIVs to have a better and clearer picture on the struggles they face upon learning of their HIV status, their friends and family’s reaction to it and the effects of treatment in their young lives. For their protection, especially on their HIV status and identity, we have changed the interviewees’ name.

Strides in HIV Policy Through Lawmakers

As the 2019 Philippine general election draws near, we Filipinos should recognize the gravity of every vote cast towards the betterment of our country. Each vote embodies the trust we endow our chosen candidates in uplifting our woes and championing our advocacies.

Love Beyond the Status

In this month of love, what can signify as the true essence of love is a relationship that is caring and accepting regardless of HIV status.

HIVisions – Hearing and HIV

From the booming sounds during a party to the gentle whispers from a significant other, the sense of hearing plays a significant role in making our days more vibrant. For hearing people, it is an essential to understand and appropriately respond to verbal communication. In recent years, researchers[1] in the field of HIV care has put their attention towards the hearing health of people living with HIV (PLHIV). A 2013 integrative review by Assuiti, Lanzoni, dos Santos, Erdmann, and Meirelles[2] revealed that there was not enough evidence for a direct association or implication of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and hearing loss, however they suggested to investigate the associated factors further due to inconclusive data.

HIVisions: Secured Living for PLHIV

It will be beneficial for these PLHIV to have some form of assurance in having a secured life and future if only they are given a chance to apply for life insurance policy without discriminatory provisions.

Motherhood and HIV: Finding Support in the Family

This is the story of Nay Elena – a PLHIV, a woman, a Ripple Awardee, and on top of everything, a mother.

STATUS: Live and Let Love – An Open Letter from a Person Who Learned What Is to Be True About HIV

If only we think as openly as Kevin Vistan, a community organizer, who wrote an open letter after being educated about the basic facts about HIV and AIDS. Here, he affirms that hate can never drive away hate, but love can.

HIVisions – HIV/AIDS, the Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines, and Moving Christianity Forward

The HIV crisis has gone on for four decades, and for four decades the world has struggled against it. Doctors, scientists, educators, policy makers, writers, artists — people of all walks and all colors have, in their own ways, sought to make sense of this crisis and its relationship with society. From citizens to states, from medicine to prayer, from cures to cries for reform, people’s visions of how to respond to the crisis are as diverse as the people who bear its scars. The goal of this series is to give you a glimpse of these visions: the roles people of different passions and disciplines have played in this crisis that, as of March 2016 as recorded by the Department of Health’s Epidemiology Bureau, is infecting 25 Filipinos daily

Makati, Quezon City, Lead in Implementation of World-Class HIV Counseling and Testing Programs

The local Health Departments of Quezon City and Makati lead the pack in actively implementing world-class HIV prevention programs, particularly HIV Counseling and Testing.

HIV Programs in the Philippines ‘World-Class’, according to WHO

Amidst the rapid rise in the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) lauds the Philippine response to the epidemic as “world class”. In a report published during the last quarter of 2012, WHO praises the use of “existing interventions (that) draw on international best practices such as peer learning, networked outreach, internet chatting, and connecting risk groups to health services.”