No end yet for HIV

The efforts to eliminate HIV and AIDS are painfully slowly gaining ground. Is it because sex is so good victims can’t resist engaging in it without protection? Is it because people who have them are too shamed to reveal they “have it”?

Speaking at the HIV Partners’ Forum Summit in Manila, Health Secretary Janette Garin projected a sharper increase in the number of HIV cases in the Philippines in the next seven years. “If we do not slow down our HIV epidemic, if we do not invest in preventing new HIV infections, the number of people living with HIV will reach 133,000 by 2022,” she said.

The efforts are continuing, though. Programs for awareness have been launched. World AIDS Day was held on Dec. 1, and a candlelight ceremony is scheduled for May 15. National Black Day for HIV-AIDS was held in Africa four days ago.

UNAIDS reports that global statistics on HIV and AIDS revealed that at the end of 2014 there were 36.9 million people living with HIV. Worldwide two million people were newly infected with HIV. New HIV infections have fallen by 35 percent since 2000. People who died of AIDS-related illnesses registered at 1.2 million, down by 42 percent since the peak in 2004. Three percent of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies in 2014; new HIV infections among children were reduced by 58 percent from 2000 to 2014. The success in the reduction of new HIV infection and reduced deaths from AIDS-related illnesses is the coverage of 15.8 million people who accessed antiretroviral therapy from June 2015.

The UNAIDS report shows that in Asia and the Pacific, HIV epidemic began relatively late. It has not reached the high levels observed in some other parts of the world. The estimated number of people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific is under five million in 2011, 160,000 are children younger than 15 years.

In South and South East Asia, 3.9 million people were living with HIV as of 2012. Of these 270,000 were new infections and AIDS-related deaths were 220,000. Fifty-two percent in South and South East Asia have access to antiretroviral therapy. HIV infections remained largely concentrated among people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers and their clients. From these sections, the virus spread to the general population.

Yet behavioral patterns that increase the risk of HIV transmission – such as unprotected sex with multiple partners and needle sharing among injecting drug users – are not uncommon in many Asian societies. Without interventions to modify high-risk behavior, current infection levels may rise rapidly in many Asian countries over the next few years, said the UNAIDS report.

Dr. Erlinda Senturias reports that in the Philippines, the HIV epidemic is growing rapidly. The number of new HIV cases, she said, increased from one new case in the course of three days in 2000 to one reported case every hour in 2015.

Of the new cases, 83 percent were among 15-34 years old. The HIV prevalence rate among people who inject drugs increased from 0.6 percent to 53 percent in 2009-2011. In Mandaue, Cebu, 3.6 percent of people who inject drugs are HIV positive. This is attributed to lack of supportive laws on harm reduction intervention.

The UNAIDS has drawn up a strategy to address the HIV and AIDS epidemic for 2016-2021, with the theme, “Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.” It is the first in the United Nations system to be aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals. The strategy is a long-term investment aimed at revolutionizing the HIV response, scale up the next phase of treatment, and support and advance human rights and gender equality.

Among its targets are the reduction by half sexual transmission of HIV, including among young people, men who have sex with men and transmission in the context of sex work; vertical transmission of HIV eliminated, and AIDs-related maternal mortality reduced by half; all new HIV infections prevented among people who use drugs, and universal access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV who are eligible for treatment.

Many ancient cultures and religions have played a major role in the history of humankind. In the midst of suffering and misery, religious leaders have played significant roles in alleviating suffering and creating new communities of love. The Asian Interfaith Network on AIDS (AINA) based in Bangkok is actively mobilizing faith communities in Asia to contribute to the UN response to HIV and AIDS by encouraging mutual tolerance, non-violence, peaceful coexistence and collective responsibility on HIV and AIDS by working together, transcending geographical, political, social and religious boundaries. The chair, Pramaha Boonchuay Doojai, is a Buddhist, and the acting secretary is a member of the Catholic HIV Action Network, Rungrote Tungsurakit. There are national interfaith networks on AIDS in Thailand, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Korea, and Bangladesh.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines under Gen. Sec. Rev. Rex Reyes supports the Program Unit on Ecumenical Education and Nurture following a 2011 General Assembly resolution asking member churches to hold awareness building seminars on HIV and AIDs, and on SAVE, a prevention methodology that addresses Stigma, Shame, Denial, Discrimination, Inaction and Misaction (SSDDIM) around HIV and AIDS.

Underlying this program is the belief that SSDDIM contributes to the quick spread of the virus, much faster than the virus itself. SAVE prevention methodology was started by the International Network of Religious Living with and Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA) based in South Africa.

The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches coordinates their action on HIV through the Micah Network participated in by pastors, church workers and health professionals.

How is this program realized in the local churches? UCCP Cosmopolitan Church in downtown Manila is setting an example through its HIV ministry that promotes SAVE as a methodology of HIV prevention since 2013.

This ministry was conceptualized by Dr. Erlinda N. Senturias, who at that time represented the Christian Conference of Asia in the HIV Strategy Group of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance based in Geneva and as vice chair of INERELA. It was realized by the active support of Rev. Dr. Jose Andres Sotto and Pastor Alvaro O. Senturias, Jr. and some members of the church like Elder Mark Froilan Laurente, Golden Years Ministry chair, Angela Valdez Timtiman, and Vee Torrevillas, visual art designer who designed and published the resource book on HIV-AIDs and Warto Torrevillas, humanities professor and instructor

The group is linked to both the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Micah Network. UCCP Cosmopolitan Church, with support from the council chair Abraham Lincoln Remolona, invited Rev. Phumzile Mabizela, a woman Presbyterian pastor from South Africa and Canon Gideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda, who were both living with HIV to participate and speak at an HIV Forum.

The resource book on HIV and AIDS was launched and a copy of it was presented to former President Fidel Valdez Ramos, a member of Cosmopolitan church. FVR had signed the Philippine AIDS law.

Most recently, Dr. Marcelito “Mars” Custodio with Cora Yabut Custodio of the Asia Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV and AIDS (APICHA) in New York visited UCCP Cosmopolitan Church. He offered to link up the HIV ministry of the church with the HIV department of UP-PGH.

HIV and AIDS awareness and action needs champions. We found champions among people living with HIV and AIDS and among religious leaders. Most recently Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, the reigning Ms. Universe, has made HIV and AIDS a part of her advocacy, especially on eliminating stigma. –Domini M. Torrevillas (The Philippine Star)

My email:dominitorrevillas@gmail.com

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