Fashion Industry Joining the Battle Against AIDS!

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It is a joy to learn, that not only developmental agencies such as the Globalfund, WHO, and the likes, are pooling for funds to combat AIDS.  Fashion industry has been joining the bandwagon for quite some time now.  In a recently concluded amfAR New York Gala last Feb 11, it honoured individuals who have made outstanding contributions to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The amfAR New York Gala has been one of New York City’s most successful and high-profile AIDS benefits since 1998 and consistently attracts and salutes some of the biggest names in entertainment, fashion, art, and AIDS advocacy. To date, the amfAR New York Gala has raised more than $15 million for amfAR’s life-saving research (averagesocialite.com).

On the other hand, it is keen to reckon that people with HIV who are not receiving antiretroviral treatment, can become ill with active TB disease within weeks to months, rather than the normal years to decades.  Hence, a co-infection.  The late Nelson Mandela, once president of South Africa where infection of HIV/AIDS is massive, corroborated this when he said:

 “We cannot win the battle against AIDS if we do not also fight TB. TB is too often a death sentence for people with AIDS." (tbfacts.org)

We also have to be reminded that HIV/AIDS and MALARIA along with TB are all, not only “preventable”, yet if plagued, are likewise “curable”.  Hence, there is this one million dollar question that constantly disturbed me; that if these diseases are veritably “preventable” and “curable”, why it is in greatest irony that the numbers of victims continue to escalate?  Moreover, why these afflictions predominantly happen in developing nations?  Pursuant to the reported figures of sufferer, do you think it is high time for the Philippines, to embrace the “Condom Culture”?

My Family's Little Discussion About HIV/AIDS

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I totally concur that pre-marital sex is the Pandora box of not only diseases such as HIV/AIDS, but coupled to different social issues.  More so, we have to remember that condoms are not 100% effective against HIV/AIDS.  Condoms do not protect you from STDs.  Hence, the optimal courses of action to avoid these diseases are prevention and risk avoidance, never complacency.  Abstinence and fidelity are concepts that are rooted in the character and values of the person.  These goals can be sustainably achieved with character and values entered education, not by mere information dissemination and slogans.

I have two kids, both boys ages 7 and 11.  As news of escalating HIV/AIDS cases are prevalent on TV here in Papua New Guinea and in TFC, my boys started questing me how these people adopted suchlike diseases.  I told them (pardon me with these wordings), “You are not permitted nor any other person to touch your genitals, otherwise, you will contract the virus.”  I know it sounded silly if not irrelevant.  Possibly some will discord, nevertheless I value it is age appropriate.  What I’m driving at is, my kids shall have to know their body foremost and learn the importance of their bodies.  To constantly ascertain them that what they have “down there” is not like any other parts of their bodies such as face which you can show-off, but rather as it is hidden it means it is sacred and must be taken care of.  And then later on in school as part of their Science class, they will realize what our reproductive organs are capable of producing, which is another form of life.  By which perhaps subsequently in their lives as their rationality have fully-pledged, they will come to a discernment that our body is consecrate and “sex” is not a past time.  As I’ve said earlier, “character and values education” are our principal artillery to combat these diseases.  I never said that I'm already there, but I'm crossing my finger.  What a delicate task for parents, isn’t it? =).

Further, I consort in teaching sicknesses as HIV and AIDS in schools as early as possible.  Children must learn how viruses of such cripple our body, weaken our organs, deteriorate our system, shorten our lives, plus the halting of our dreams and future because of social stigma.  And these diseases were contracted because of unprotected and premarital sex, and promiscuity.  Perhaps, it will be equally effective as yearly’s New Year campaign of “Huwag Magpaputok”.

HIV/AIDS, MALARIA, and TUBERCULOSIS, Diseases of Poverty?

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I would like to raise this interesting report of World Bank that HIV/AIDS, MALARIA, and TUBERCULOSIS are proven to be Diseases of Poverty.  A staggering 99% of people who die from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB) live in the developing world.  The health problems faced by the world’s poorest populations are not caused by a lack of drugs specifically related to their problems and diseases as these are “preventable” and “curable”.  The real problem is ensuring that these populations can actually access vital medicines.  Medicines also fail to reach the poor because of weak healthcare infrastructures, which are inherently the result of financial and human resource constraints. (World Bank).

Here in Papua New Guinea, more cases of tuberculosis are being treated than before and case detection of the disease has risen to 89 per cent in 2013 from 61 per cent in 2010.  Global Fund have signed K130 million kina (P2 billion pesos) to support TB and malaria programs in PNG.  It is aimed to bring the treatments to hard to reach places in Papua New Guinea.

Malaria is much harder to control in remote parts of the world, but Papua New Guinea has had dramatic success in battling the disease. Five years ago one in every five people across the country had malaria parasites in their blood - that number is now down to two people in every 100.  One of the reasons of the success is that Villagers from the Highlands in Papua New Guinea are now been trained to detect and treat the disease in the community.  More so, in a recent unfolding of news, a small feeder container vessel consisted of 32 containers of mosquito nets owned by international charitable organization the Rotary Club through their subsidiary Rotarians Against Malaria, a not-for-profit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) have given away Long Lasting Insecticidal Mosquito Nets (LLIN’s) which are delivered free of charge to every household in Papua New Guinea.

I recount when my husband first arrived here back 2009, Malaria was pestilent at those times.  We were hesitant for him to accept the job as one of his former colleagues contracted the disease while in an assigned work in Papua New Guinea.  He claimed he almost “died” because of malaria here.  In God’s grace and power of prayer, until now after nearly six years in Papua New Guinea, he nor any of us didn’t expose to malaria sickness.  (By the way, one week prior to his arrival in Papua New Guinea, while in the Philippines he was taking LARIAM, an oral medication for malaria prevention).  At present, malaria contagion in Papua New Guinea is hardly seen over the news.

To sum, ACCESS is the real solution in diseases of poverty.  Hence, cure and assistance must be brought to the masses.