MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has passed on third and final reading a bill mandating new strategies in the fight against the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country.

“We have very high hopes we will have a new Acquired Immune Deficiency (AIDS) prevention and control law by mid-year at the latest,” Rep. Arnel Ty of the party-list group Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association, one of the authors of bill, said yesterday.

Ty said the Senate is scheduled to conduct a hearing today on a counterpart bill authored by Sen. Miriam Santiago.

He said the anti-HIV/AIDS measures mandate the Philippine National AIDS Council to draw up a fresh six-year program with definite targets to reverse the average 45 percent annual increase in new HIV cases in the country since 2010.

HIV causes AIDS, which destroys the human body’s immune system and still does not have any cure. However, anti-retroviral therapy can slow down the ailment.

According to the Department of Health, HIV is being spread in the country primarily through high-risk sexual contact, predominantly male-to-male sex, and needle sharing among illegal drug users.

A total of 3,338 new HIV infections were diagnosed nationwide in 2012, up by 42 percent or 989 cases, compared to the 2,349 detected in 2011.

Once enacted, Ty said the anti-HIV/AIDS bill “will go a long way in improving the living conditions of HIV-positive people through greater access to treatment, care and support.”

“The bill also sets tougher penalties for entities and individuals who discriminate against HIV-positive people as well as those who violate their rights to confidentiality,” he said.

He said there is still time to pass the measure into law if the Senate approves its version next week.

Source:

Jess Diaz, The Philippine Star (January 31, 2012)

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/01/31/903146/house-oks-anti-hiv/aids-bill

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Julia Roberts will star as a paraplegic physician treating patients early in the AIDS epidemic in the stage-to-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning drama "The Normal Heart," U.S. cable television network HBO said on Friday.

"The Normal Heart," set to air on HBO in 2014, tells the story of the dawning of the epidemic in 1980s New York.

Oscar-winner Roberts plays Dr. Emma Brookner, who treats several early patients infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Co-star Mark Ruffalo plays Ned Weeks, an eyewitness to how the disease ravaged the city's gay community.

The film will be directed by "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy and was adapted by the play's author, Larry Kramer, an early advocate for AIDS prevention and care.

"Ryan has assembled an extraordinary cast to bring Larry Kramer's landmark theatrical achievement to the screen for the first time, and we couldn't be more thrilled to bring this important film to HBO," Michael Lombardo, HBO's president of programming, said in a statement.

"The Normal Heart" debuted on stage in 1985 in New York and was revived on Broadway in 2011, winning the Tony Award for best revival.

The movie version was originally envisioned as big screen release before HBO took it up as a television film.

More on Kramer's play:

    In 1981, writer Larry Kramer hosted a gathering of six gay men and their friends to discuss the "gay cancer," and to talk about fundraising for research. This informal meeting in Kramer's home would lead to the formation of Gay Men's Health Crisis, one of the first advocacy groups for HIV prevention and care.

     Kramer's play debuted at New York Public Theatre in 1985 and was revived in Los Angeles and London and off-Broadway. The 2011 Broadway revival garnered five Tony nominations, winning for Best Revival, Best Featured Actor and Best Featured Actress.

Source:

http://movies.yahoo.com/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/

A group of researchers from Spain, France and the United States has found a way to offer some protection against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV): with inactivated HIV.

The study, led by Dr. Felipe Garcia of the University of Barcelona, showed that patients vaccinated with heat-inactivated HIV may not need to take medication for a few weeks or months.

Science News reported that disabled HIV "can awaken immune protection in some patients."

The study, published Jan. 2 in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said, "Inducing HIV-1–specific immune responses with a therapeutic immunization has been proposed to control viral replication after discontinuation of Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) as an alternative to "cART for life."

Combination antiretroviral therapy entails taking two or more drugs to prevent the replication of retroviruses like HIV.

In the study, scientists and medical researchers took blood samples from 36 patients. They extracted each person's HIV and took samples of dendritic cells—immune system cells.

The researchers blasted the HIV from 22 randomly selected patients with heat to inactivate it. Later on, the patients received a vaccine from their own dendritic cells and inactivated HIV.

Within 12 weeks, virus levels went down by at least 90 percent in 12 of the 22 patients, Science News reported.

But most of the treated patients lost their immunity to HIV over time and their virus levels rose once more.

Science News also reported that after 11 months, only three of the recipients of the vaccine maintained the 90 percent drop in virus levels.

The volunteers of the study have been taking standard antiretroviral therapy before the trials started.

"It is likely that the person’s immune system is already damaged, and so they cannot mount a sufficiently efficient functional antiviral response [to a vaccine]," Science News quoted Statens Serm Institute in Copenhagen physician Anders Fomsgaard as saying.

"It may be more optimal to vaccinate during antiretroviral therapy," he also said.

Fomsgaard recognizes the potential for development of the new study.

Meanwhile, Garcia said that even if their study failed in knocking down HIV  completely, it "would still be beneficial if it proves to be long-lasting."

A related study, published in 2010, showed that the "elite controllers"—one percent of the HIV-positive population who do not develop AIDS symptoms—could be the key to eradicating HIV.

Source:

Shaira Panela/BM, GMA News

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/289657/scitech/science/inactive-hiv-may-provide-hiv-patients-with-immune-protection-study

Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases in the Philippines

In November 2012, there were 284 new HIV Ab sero-positive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) and reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. This was 34% higher compared to the same period last year.

Most of the cases (97%) were males. The median age was 28 years (age range: 17-59 years). The 20-29 years (52%) age-group had the most number of cases. Forty-seven percent (134) of the reported cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR).

Reported mode of transmission were sexual contact (282) and needle sharing among injecting drug users (2). Males having sex with other males (82%) were the predominant type of sexual transmission. Most (92%) of the cases were still asymptomatic at the time of reporting.

AIDS Cases

Of the 284 HIV positive cases, twenty-four were reported as AIDS cases, all were males. The median age is 29 years (age range: 20-45 years). Ninety-six percent (23) acquired the infection through sexual contact (15 homosexual, 4 heterosexual, and 14 bisexual) and 1 acquired through needle sharing among injecting drug users. There was no reported death for this month.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)

Thirty-five of the 284 (12%) reported cases were OFWs. There were 32 males and 3 females. The median age was 32 years (age range: 21-52 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (12 heterosexual, 16 homosexual, and 7 bisexual).

Bazzo Asian Bar and Resto presents singer RJ Cruz in Back to Life, a birthday party show for a cause. The show is for the benefit of The Love Fund, a project that provides medical assistance to the indigent PLHIVs (People Living with HIV).

The show will be on January 10, 2013 at Bazzo Bar, Bluewave, Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City. First show starts at 8:30 pm, and the second show starts at 11:30 pm.

For tickets and sponsorship, please contact Mr. Johnray Manansala at 09278111504.

MANILA, Philippines - We knew they were going to be there and we had this planned from the beginning.

We leaped out of the cab and onto the streets with rainbow tattoos on our shoulders, fury in our fists, and feet ready to walk the good walk. Right around the corner, we saw the first traces of them, getting ready with their huge, condemning signs and loudspeakers and T-shirts that said, "Repent and Believe."

“This is going to be good,” we kept saying to each other. It was the first time for both of us to attend a Pride March and we couldn’t stop imagining if what we see on "Queer As Folk" would match its real-life, Filipino counterpart. Walking into the grounds of the Makati City Hall, we were greeted by spicy hot drag queens strutting across a vast rainbow draping the length of an Olympic swimming pool. They were in the middle of a colorful crowd that gathered under a long, wide, and commanding rainbow flag up in the air.

But something was missing: the people outside who wouldn’t dare step inside. What fun is a gay prideanything without a protesting religious something! Fundies, they call them.

Overly passionate fundamentalists who seemed to have a lot of time on their hands and found it no trouble at all to cook up a semblance of a protest demonstration, complete with props and matching costumes. To the marchers, they appeared like monuments with whom everyone wanted a photo.

So we did, quite radically so. It had always been an entry in our bucket list and the chance presented itself.

Jake posted this photo as his profile picture on Facebook that night, and the photo caught on with hundreds of likes and shares by the next morning.

We did not expect the photo to go viral, but as we watched the numbers continue to rise, we also read through people’s comments, and so far, everyone’s been nothing but nice. We were met with waves of support. Encouraging and proud words poured in from people we knew and people we didn’t know, people who were openly queer or declared otherwise.

They shared the photo with captions commending us for our bravery. Eventually we were able to get in touch with the nice girl who took the photo for us, and it even caught the attention of J. Neil Garcia, editor of “Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing."

Some commented how this was something that had to be shared. We figure that perhaps people do want to see this kind of change in society. Or, perhaps they want this narrative to be their own. It's probably a bold move they’ve been striving to make themselves. And we’re glad that we helped them get closer to it.

Stand up

One commenter questioned the ethics of this photo, even if the cause was something that was shared.“Hindi ba with this picture ginagawa lang natin sa kanila yung ginagawa nila sa mga tulad natin" (Are we not, with this picture, doing to them what they do against people like us)?"

While we understood what he meant, we disagreed. We're all free to express ourselves, and this photo merely depicts that. We're all just standing up for what we believe in -- a world where we’re all at peace with each other, where we accept and respect each other’s beliefs. But quite frankly, it's quite impossible. There will always be a fight, and we have chosen ours (or it chose us), and we stand ready to absorb the ripples that these actions create.

This is not to say we are fighting hate with hate. Apart from it being a bucket list thing, we wanted to do the Pride March justice and really stand up, and not just wave around rainbow flags. We wanted to reallystand up. To shake up the scene and really make ourselves visible.

Some people go to the pride march and become who they want to become for a day, and then go home to hide back in the closet, maybe not from their friends, but from their conservative families. Some people don’t even feel the need to come out and that’s okay. But not us.

The photo reached our parents and relatives eventually, and though we were both out to them to begin with, there were still consequences to deal with. Bardo, whose parents are for the most part tolerant, was requested to have the photo taken down. But it just doesn't work that way. What happens on the Internet stays on the Internet. We have no chance to ever undo this and we knew the risks from the beginning.

We remember the time when we were still in the closet and vividly so, how much we needed to see someone do it first. We did it, as a way of showing whomever was watching that there are people who are willing to expose their underbellies to public criticism to prove that the LGBT community is nothing short of tough. - Rappler.com

Source: BARDO WU AND JAKE JEREZA, Rappler.com (12-10-12)

In the spirit of Christmas, let us not forget our brothers and sisters in Mindanao that were heavily devastated by the wrath of typhoon Pablo. Make your own share through many organizations accepting donations.

PHILIPPINE RED CROSS

Ways to Donate:
- Through PayPal- Through Ushare - Credit Card, Online Banking, Megalink
- Through GreenPeso - PayPal, Bancnet, GCash
- Through Multiply
- Through PayDollar


Cash or Check Donations
Please send cash or check donations to the PRC National Headquarters in Manila. Checks should be made payable to The Philippine Red Cross. We can also arrange for donation pick-up.

We now accept cash donations for the Philippine Red Cross at any 7-11 store or Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop nationwide.


Bank Deposit

Bank accounts for Donations


Banco De Oro
Peso: 00-453-0018647
Dollar: 10-453-0039482

Metrobank
Peso: 151-3-041631228
Dollar: 151-2-15100218-2

Philippine National Bank
Peso: 3752 8350 0034
Dollar: 3752 8350 0042

Unionbank of the Philippines
Peso: 1015 4000 0201
Dollar: 1315 4000 0090

All Check/Cash for the account of Philippine Red Cross (Swift Codes)


Banco De Oro
BNORPHMM

Bank of the Philippine Islands
BOPIPHMM

Metrobank
MBTCPHMM

Philippine National Bank
PNBMPHMM

Unionbank of the Philippines
UBPHPHMM

For your donations to be properly acknowledged, please fax the bank transaction slip at nos. +63.2.527.0575 or +63.2.404.0979 with your name, address and contact number.


In-Kind Donation

Local
Please send in-kind local donations to Philippine Red Cross - National Headquarters in Manila. We could also arrange for donation pick-up

International
1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PRC.
2. A letter of acceptance from PRC shall be sent back to the donor.
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to Philippine Red Cross - National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 1018, Philippines.

The PRC does not accept rotten, damaged, expired or decayed goods. Though we appreciate your generosity, PRC also discourages donations of old clothes as we have more than enough to go around.


SMS and G-Cash

SMS
Text RED<space>AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4143 (Smart)

G-Cash
Text DONATE<space>AMOUNT<space>4-digit M-PIN<space>REDCROSS to 2882

You can donate the following denominations:
Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000

Through your generosity, we can stand prepared for disasters. We appreciate your continuous and unwavering support. Thank you.

Email us: fundgeneration@redcross.org.ph

Call Hotline 143
or (+632) 527.0000

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
Bonifacio Drive, Port Area
Manila 1018, Philippines
Email: prc@redcross.org.ph

McDonald's Restaurants

Let us extend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters affected by Typhoon Pablo.

Starting today, McDonald's restaurants will again open its doors to in-kind donations (clothes, beddings, canned goods, bottled water and other basic necessities) to help those affected. 

McDonald's, through its charity of choice, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Philippine Red Cross, will bring them to communities where they are most needed.

Thank you for your generosity!

Sources:

http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate

https://www.facebook.com/McDo.ph

https://www.facebook.com/markalvin.abrigo

Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases in the Philippines

In October 2012, there were 295 new HIV Ab sero-positive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) and reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. This was 48% higher compared to the same period last year. 

Most of the cases (93%) were males. The median age was 28 years (age range: 15-56 years). The 20-29 years (57%) age-group had the most number of cases. Forty-six percent (137) of the reported cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR).

Reported mode of transmission were sexual contact (286) and needle sharing among injecting drug users (9). Males having sex with other males (83%) were the predominant type of sexual transmission. Most (93%) of the cases were still asymptomatic at the time of reporting.

AIDS Cases

Of the 295 HIV positive cases, twenty-two were reported as AIDS cases, all were males. The median age is 28 years (age range: 19-48 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (14 homosexual, 5 heterosexual, and 3 bisexual). There was no reported death for this month.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)

Thirty-one of the 295 (11%) reported cases were OFWs. There were 29 males and 2 females. The median age was 30 years (age range: 22-49 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (7 heterosexual,  15 homosexual, and 9 bisexual).

Source: Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry

Maalaala Mo Kaya (Would You Remember) is the longest-running drama anthology series in Philippine television. It has been on air since 1991. The show accepts stories from letter senders, and picks exceptional ones to present in TV format. To mark World AIDS Day, their episode this December 1 was entitled Pulang Laso (Red Ribbon).

It is quite rare for a TV station in a conservative country like ours to present a story involving a sensitive topic such as HIV/AIDS.

The TV episode elicited various reaction from people on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. While some commended the daring move of the TV network to raise awareness regarding HIV through the drama series, others remarked about it harshly.

The HIV community also weighed in. One person said that the show should have focused on Allan (Joem Bascon) as an HIV advocate, rather than spending too much air time on the love story. Another one criticized that Kevin (Carlo Aquino) shouldn't have died, and the episode should reflect that HIV/AIDS doesn't immediately equate to death. Another viewer said that there was a lot lacking, like the absence of pre and post counseling on the HIV test, as well as the absence of treatment and interventions for Kevin. Sadly, one HIV+ viewer dismissed the episode as trash and said that the show should have produced a story with another topic.

Harsh remarks, I should say, particularly coming from fellow HIV+ people. Personally, I found the episode great in that both homosexual relationship and HIV/AIDS are not often discussed on Philippine television. With a platform such as Maalaala Mo Kaya, the episode has reached out to millions of loyal Filipino viewers in the country and abroad.

People should be aware that TV has its limitations in presenting a complex story, as air time is usually just a little over an hour. Filipinos love melodramas and tearjerkers, but this one still attempted to educate viewers by subtlety inserting information about the signs and symptoms of HIV, the importance of being faithful to one's partner, the need for safe sex and regular HIV tests, and more importantly, it gave the viewers hope that despite having the disease, people living with HIV can still have normal and productive lives.

Overall, the show raised the level of awareness of the Filipino people with regards to HIV and AIDS. The show trended over Twitter. Links to the episode have been posted on Facebook. A lot of people were talking about it. And for me, this is a good sign. When people start to talk, they will eventually seek out information. One HIV counselor even said that he assisted several patients in getting HIV tests, and they confessed to him that they did so after watching Maalaala Mo Kaya's World AIDS Day episode.

As for the others who bash about the episode, I believe that they should start writing their own personal stories for TV airing next year. I am just so disappointed with some of the responses of other HIV+; they can be brutally arrogant like there's some sort of a contest or search for the best HIV+ person in the country. Please, it's World AIDS Day. Let's unite instead.

To read the complete article, please click HERE.

This is my third article with PositiveLite.com, Canada's online HIV magazine. Visit their site by clicking HERE for valuable stories, news, and other information about HIV and people living with it. 

First article: Meet Pinoy Positive

Second article: Suicidal Thoughts

Third article: MMK Reflections

Thank you PositiveLite.com for giving me the opportunity to thank ABS-CBN TV network, the show Maalaala Mo Kaya, director Nuel Naval (@directfromncn), the main actors Carlo Aquino (@carloaquino11) and Joem Bascon, the writer, and to all those were part in the creation of the Pulang Laso episode.

Thank you for making World AIDS Day more meaningful.

MANILA, Philippines - The last time I saw Sarah Jane Salazar was weeks before her death at the National Center for Mental Health where she was confined for a psychological disorder emanating from her HIV infection. 

She was delirious, but she remembered who I was. She asked if I was there to interview her, and I said no, I was there to visit. I told the hospital director that I had to give up the interview even after going through a long process to be allowed inside. 

The sight of the restless young woman, who put a face to AIDS in the 1990s, suddenly very ill, staring at a few days to her death was not a compassionate situation for an interview. It would have been my last interview with her, but I was still thankful that I saw her for the last time. 

In June 2000, Sarah Jane died of complications from AIDS. Some news reporters revealed her real name when they wrote their stories, and the names of her two children. They said she was already dead anyway, ignoring what her real identification might have caused her family. (Even Wikipedia disregarded the confidentiality clause, because it states her real name.)

The second Filipino known to go public with her HIV infection after Dolzura Cortez, then 19-year-old Sarah Jane, was introduced through a press conference in 1994 at the Department of Health, which made her a banner girl for advocating HIV prevention. 

There were differing versions of her story, but a common thread was that she was infected through sexual contact with a foreign client while earning her keep as a sex worker in Japan and Manila. She finished high school and was studying to be a nurse when fast money in sex work beckoned. Doctors observed that she was smart, as she understood her health situation.

But her time in the media limelight was not without notoriety. Within two years, she had sexual relations with a 16-year-old boy, with whom she had a child, and in which she faced charges of child abuse. She had a drug addiction. Many times, she was unruly in public. The attendant drama and spectacle about her inspired a movie, “The Secrets of Sarah Jane.”

There were others who went public before and after her, some good, others troublesome. There was Esther Nahum (not her real name), the first president of Pinoy Plus, the country’s first organization of Filipinos with HIV. There was the couple Susan and Mel, who sold their HIV-infected blood to commercial blood banks to earn money. There were Cathy, Archie and Liza Enriquez (not her real name). Even with a death wish looming from behind their brave faces, they all worked for HIV prevention under the government program.

The shift

Then there were a few years when HIV was set aside in the realm of the news media. The faces also faded out, but HIV infections increased steadily until 2008 when the health department declared a shift in the mode of predominant transmission – from heterosexual to homosexual. The DOH recorded increases of infection among men having sex with men (MSM) that were tremendously in excess of the expected trend.

It was also in that year that Wanggo Gallaga, the son of film director Peque Gallaga, went public with his HIV infection. The coming out of Gallaga, a writer, also occurred with the beginning of the shifting trend to a different face to HIV – that of young professionals who are articulate and who can assert their social and economic standing in a society that finds it difficult to shake off stigma on persons living with HIV, not to mention discrimination persons with homosexual and bisexual orientation. 

The shift could be discerned from among the names and faces currently speaking on behalf of HIV awareness and prevention, and responsible sexual behavior.

Take the case of Vincent, a young professional working in a large global computer company, who spoke before journalists attending a media seminar on HIV reporting last October. Journalists who listened to his story were in awe at the casual way he shared his HIV status without the expected drama of sob stories the media have seen in recent years.

Seeing Vincent with a bit of strangeness, however, assured them of a person who was educated about his environment and what he could do about it. “I didn’t like the media – they’re rude, have no emotions, and were only concerned about their deadlines. But I decided to face you because I thought it could be helpful,” Vincent told the journalists.

He cautioned that his story was nothing theatrical: one afternoon during a break from work, he decided to have himself tested for HIV when he heard a newscast about the rising HIV cases. He tested positive. The first thing he asked the doctor was if he could still have children because he wanted to have a family. He also asked about organizations doing HIV prevention advocacy where he could volunteer.

It took 9 months before Vincent told his partner about his HIV status, but he never disclosed it to his parents and family because he wanted to spare them of the difficulty of knowing two things – their son’s HIV status and sexual orientation. 

Vincent is one of the peer educators and counselors of the AIDS Society of the Philippines (ASP), a professional, civil society organization, where he engages in chatting with his peer through the social networks. He educates about having oneself tested especially if there is a risky behavior involved such as unprotected sex with a partner or having multiple sex partners. He also urges HIV-positive persons to seek medical help, or, for a start, talk to someone like him who could provide support.

“Don’t be afraid to get tested. If you don’t, you could damage someone else’s life,” he said.

“Do not be silent about it. Know about HIV. Fight fear with facts.” He said one of his friends who never sought treatment for HIV infection died of pneumonia, one of the infections that attack a person whose immunity is impaired by AIDS, the end stage of HIV infection. His friend was treated in hospital as a regular pneumonia patient and not for AIDS.

Dr. Jose Narciso Melchor Sescon, president of ASP, said advocates of HIV awareness and prevention are happy to work with the new faces such as Vincent. 

“Coming out in the open would entail that much courage to put a face and help in AIDS advocacy,” he said. “It reinforces and answers the question ‘who are vulnerable to the AIDS virus?’ I say it cuts across gender, race, social status, education, and religion. It’s all about behavior and what one practices that matters most.”

Rising cases

Historically, Dr. Sescon recounted that in 1985, the first persons who were tested happened to be female sex workers plying their trade in the former US military bases during disease surveillances funded by the US Naval Medical Research Unit. More sex workers, both female and male, were reported as HIV-positive throughout the 1990s.

Affected age groups and sectors changed with more studies and researches. Infections boomed starting in 2000 among overseas contract workers who were required by their host countries to undergo HIV tests before deployment or during contract renewals. This set an alarm to the international development organization Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) that helped intensify health and testing services that surfaced more migrant workers and this time, young men who have sex with men (MSM) aged 24 to 35 as the affected groups.

In 2003, the health department recorded the six-fold rise of infections in a span of 3 years. In 2007, Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao reported the most number of cases, and it was among young people, mainly MSM but now younger – 15 to 24. They still dominate the health department’s HIV registry today. For October 2012, the registry recorded 295 new infections. There are nine people who get infected every day. The affected sectors are MSM and injecting drug users.

Even if public attention has also shifted from sex workers like Sarah Jane to young professionals like Vincent, Dr. Sescon said all professional groups and people in all economic brackets are now getting infected. 

Aidan, another HIV-positive peer educator and is a physical therapist by profession, believes that the change of faces in the advocacy only “proves that HIV does not discriminate” and that “it has led to the understanding of the fact that HIV affects everyone.” 

But even with the changing times, he is concerned that young MSM professionals who give a face to the infection would be branded as promiscuous and irresponsible people. This worsens the situation because he said, “this might generalize HIV infection as occurring only to the MSM community as what has happened to the people in prostitution during Sarah Jane’s reign in the 1990s.”

Aidan said there is a need not just for young professionals to come out and speak up about their experiences, more so, “an event wherein a group of persons living with HIV, probably more than 20, to come out and give face to HIV.” He foresees this as “an impactful initiative from the positive community that will make people realize deeply that HIV is actually around us and that we should all act now before HIV comes to our doors and starts infecting our own family and loved ones.” - Rappler.com

Source: Diana G. Mendoza, Rappler.com (December 2, 2012)