The number of HIV and AIDS cases in the Philippines has been steadily increasing since 2007 and fears about the disease have not abated.
I recently visited an AIDS research and treatment clinic outside Manila to find out how people living with HIV are coping with the stigma of the disease more than 30 years after it was first discovered.
Men wearing surgical masks walk in and out of the AIDS clinic of the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine.
On a typical day, the doctors see between 100 to 120 patients.
Dr Rosanna Ditangco heads the AIDS Research Group at the institute, which keeps the national registry of HIV positive blood units.
She says this group of patients in the Manila suburb of Alabang is representative of the rest of the country.
“If you look at the profile now of Filipinos with HIV, they are basically young men in their 20s and they are young urban professionals or college students.”
Dr Ditangco says they are mostly men having sex with men. And the numbers are on an upward trend.
The Philippine AIDS and HIV Registry’s May report shows 495 newly recorded cases, an increase of 19 per cent from the same period a year ago.
From January through May the registry recorded 2,300 cases.
Struggling with personal shame
One of the men who fits the profile is Angel, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2011.
The 28-year-old high school teacher also volunteers at the clinic.
“We are here to encourage them, to give them the meaning of true life, that they have to live to the fullest so we’re here to do that, to make them happy and to help them to ease the pain,” he said.
Angel says he has talked to lots of patients who become suicidal because they are overcome with shame.
Dr Ditangco says this is the strongest form of stigma that can develop and it is difficult to shake.
It’s not really the general population’s perception of who you are as a HIV-positive person but how you perceive yourself.
Angel, teacher diagnosed with HIV. “They still feel that the circumstances by which they got the infection, even for themselves, is not morally or socially acceptable,” she said.
“So I think that is the main problem now. It’s not really the general population’s perception of who you are as a HIV-positive person but how you perceive yourself.”
Angel keeps a positive attitude and he believes his strong faith in God is what keeps him healthy.
He has plenty of support from most of his family. But he keeps it secret from his sister.
“When we watched a news [story] about HIV, she told me, ‘Oh no Angel, once you get that disease, forget me. You can’t touch your nephew. You can’t touch your niece.’ So that’s why I don’t tell it to her.”
He also can’t tell the people at work, or his best friend at church. Angel says he has a friend who lost his job after telling his manager he was HIV positive.
HIV/AIDS still a ‘very sensitive topic’
A Philippine law introduced in 1998 says no one can discriminate against a person with HIV or AIDS, and preventive education is key.
Yet, the prevailing pattern is incomplete information about the disease and how it spreads.
Dr Ditangco says HIV/AIDS is part of science curriculum in the education system.
“It’s not yet from the orientation of gender and sensitivity and behaviour. So it’s not yet in that context that it is being taught in school because that is a very sensitive topic.”
For one thing, contraception is a hot-button issue in the Philippines, where 82 per cent of the population is Roman Catholic.
A reproductive health law was finally enacted in 2012 after more than a decade of debate.
The Catholic Church has strongly opposed the law, arguing that easy availability of contraception would promote promiscuity.
Dr Ditangco says even for some gays who are considered high risk, HIV is a sensitive topic and a discussion to avoid.
‘You cannot escape from your own shadow’
In 2012 Raymon Lumanlan, 28, lost most of his friends after they found out he was HIV positive.
He only has 40 per cent of his vision because his compromised immune system makes him susceptible to a virus that infected his eyes.
Mr Lumanlan is on maintenance medication and he works as a site implementation officer at the clinic.
“I had the courage to that. Some of them [do] not.
“And then I told them, ‘You cannot escape from your own shadow’ because birds who are the same feathers flock together sometimes.”
The UN Development Programme says less than 1 per cent of the national population is HIV positive.
However, it says the increase from one case reported per day in 2000 to five a day in 2010 is “cause for concern”.
Dr Ditangco says the health department estimates just one quarter of people with HIV actually get tested.
The one reason people don’t get tested is because of stigma. –Simone Orendain for Asia Pacific
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