#HackingHIV with PrEP Pilipinas: WHO, DOH & LoveYourself Introduce New HIV Prevention Method

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It was a choice between attending the finals night of a beauty pageant or the event organized by this group advocating awareness, counseling and treatment of HIV and other related diseases usually rampant among the LGBT or MSM community.

Now you know which event I have chosen to attend since I believe I could do a lot more good disseminating information about this new treatment against HIV rather than covering a competition to find the better looking and smarter ladies among several other candidates flaunting their beauty for everyone to see.

Needless to say, I felt more happy knowing I could help out this group called LoveYourself which I have been doing for several months already as I share all their press releases and attend their events whenever I'm available. 

I am also grateful that the Department of Health (DOH),the World Health Organization (WHO), and even the Senate courtesy of Senator Risa Hontiveros, are actively collaborating with LoveYourself in their noble advocacy.

At an event held on November 29, 2016 at MyCinema of Greenbelt 3, Executive Director Vihn Pagtakhan, Senior Director Christopher Lagman, Head of AIDS Research Group of DOH-RITM Dr. Rosanna Ditangco, and WHO Country Representative Dr. Gundo Weiler, encouraged everyone to share the newly available HIV treatment called PrEP or Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to add in fighting HIV. The group also recommends the continued use of condoms since PrEP can only counter HIV and not the other sexually transmitted diseases.

LoveYourself and Partners Provide LegislatHIVe Testing and Ideas at the Senate

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Underscoring the importance of the early detection of HIV for the commemoration of World AIDS Day, LoveYourself in collaboration with the Pasay City Social Hygiene Clinic conducted an HIV testing campaign at the Senate of the Philippines on 29 November 2016 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00p.m.

This is in response to the initiative of the Office of the Senator Risa Hontiveros being the Senate Committee Chairperson on Health and Demography, who is also thrusting for the amendments of the Republic Act No. 8504 or also known as “Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998.”

According to Sen. Hontiveros, the HIV testing day at the Senate aims to encourage more people to look at HIV test as a regular diagnostic tool, such as, blood pressure check-up and urinalysis, to know one’s health status and live a healthy lifestyle.

“An HIV test could spell difference between life and death,” relayed Sen. Hontiveros, while emphasizing the need for such a procedure to generate information that would support a progressive, human-rights-based and gender sensitive policy and programs to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country.

Sen. Hontiveros emphasized that Filipinos can avail free and confidential HIV test from any social hygiene clinics and community centers like LoveYourself. 

Christmas is Almost Here and so are Special Deals

Wazzup Pilipinas!

We all love to get the best out of our hard-earned money. This is why many of us go after the sales, promos, deals, and everything else that offer lowered or discounted prices. We usually find these special offers at bazaars or "tiangges" especially when there are upcoming occasions like Christmas. Malls would often have sales done during payday weekends when many will be willing to splurge to reward themselves from all that hard work at the office. Most millennials now also embrace online shopping portals as part of their routine because we simply couldn't resist items that are sold at nearly half the price from the normal.

One form of getting discounts are with the use of online voucher codes that you could easily redeem at sites offering irresistible exclusive online deals that you won't find anywhere else. It feels so good when we could easily just search for a voucher, webshop or product, then just click on a button to receive the code which we use on the checkout process, and finally order the item that we want. Imagine how life would be more splendid if everything can be regularly purchased at special deals.

Aside from the great deals, purchasing online takes us away from the hassles and stress of having to endure the long queues at the shopping malls, and many times withdrawals at ATMs or banks becomes harder due to system downtime, or the worsening traffic congestion especially in the roads of Metro Manila.

Almost everyone we know do not have the patience to fall in line at the sales counters and ATMs so they end up not buying at all. This means loss of sales for the store, and likewise a negative experience for us since we get disappointed from not being able to purchase or desired products.

If ever we do have the patience to endure the long queues, we cannot deny that our next dilemma would be getting out of the mall and reaching our homes with less frustration.

In the Philippines, what used to be just 15 minutes of travel time from the nearest mall, would become an hour of painstaking driving experience on the road. It's a lot worst if you are just commuting on public transportation riding jeepneys, buses or the MRT/LRT trains. This is why road rage incidents have been happening every now and then. Many are just becoming so irritated in being stuck in traffic, or crowded and overloaded vehicles, for so many hours.

Life is made less complicated when our desired products can be conveniently chosen online containing all the product description details, prices, and other options for add-ons, and eventually delivered direct to our homes quickly. It becomes even nicer when we get to avail discounts and special deals - a big bonus for our online transactions.