HIV is everyone’s problem

MANILA, Philippines - Tomorrow, Dec. 1, marks the 24th year since the first World AIDS Day was held, and still, the global community’s fight against HIV/AIDS shows no signs of waning.

I remember reading a 2010 Monocle fashion profile on South African president Jacob Zuma, which mentioned Zuma’s claim during his 2005 rape trial that, after having sex with an HIV-positive woman, he took a shower to “cut the risk of contracting HIV.” At that time, I thought it was the one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard, the most glaring show of ignorance about HIV and AIDS.

The real, dismal picture

But a look at the most recent numbers in the Philippines has proven me wrong –– and they don’t make my eyes roll so much as they make me alarmed. According to the Department of Health, there has been an 820 percent increase (yes, 820 percent) in the number of HIV cases in the country between 2001 and 2010. Surveillance reports last May revealed 273 new HIV-positive cases in the country, raising the number of Filipinos infected with the virus to 9,669 and of those living with AIDS to 1,042. To make the picture even clearer, the Network to Stop AIDS-Philippines released the “per diem” statistics during a forum last Nov. 26: 11 (new) infections a day, or one every two or so hours. The DOH further predicted that by 2015, the number of cases would inflate to as much as 45,000 –– reported cases, that is. Who knows how many would still be living in the dark.

Compared to the rest of the Southeast Asian region, which has shown a 45-percent decrease in the number of cases from 2001 to 2010, and of the world, which marked a 13-percent decrease within the same period, the Philippines is on a reverse cycle. To add another cause for concern is the International Global Fund’s withdrawal of support for the local government’s AIDS program just this month, a big blow to the funds used for the provision of anti-retroviral medication to Filipinos with HIV/AIDS. The Network to Stop AIDS-Philippines has stated that for 2013, the national budget allocated for HIV/AIDS programs is only P145M at most.

It is a terrifying picture, made even more preposterous by the easy availability of information on HIV/AIDS on the Internet and the number of personality-driven awareness campaigns that have been launched through the years. During my grade school years in the ‘90s, for example, awareness of how HIV gets spread (and how it doesn’t) were already part of health class discussions.

Is this a case, then, of persistent ignorance?

Dr. Jose Sescon of AIDS Society of the Philippines presents, however, a different way of looking at those numbers. “The rise in incidence can be attributed to greater awareness and efforts to encourage HIV testing,” he says. “With more Filipinos getting tested for HIV, more people are learning of their status and gaining access to HIV services. The government and community groups have been very effective in raising the awareness among the Philippine population on HIV/AIDS.”

An issue beyond health

It is not comforting to think that until recently, the general populace has been living with a false sense of security against a virus that currently infects an estimated 34.2 million people worldwide. Country coordinator of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Teresita Bagasao stated in a 2010 interview that most Filipinos were not alarmed by the rising number of cases “possibly due to lack of visible information, as well as being lulled into a false sense of security by the average national HIV prevalence of under 0.1 percent.” Still, it is far better that we know the real score on HIV/AIDS and be pushed into action as the whole HIV/AIDS situation isn’t contained within the sphere of health; it also comes with social and economic issues that affect not just those who live with HIV/AIDS but also the people who love them.

Sescon reports that in 2011, eight million of the estimated number people living with HIV/AIDS in the world had access to anti-retroviral treatment, and science has shown that those who are on  treatment and whose disease is suppressed are 96 percent less likely to transmit HIV to their partners. “Yet globally, there are still far too few people who have access to it,” he remarks. “Even among those who do, we need to improve treatment adherence as many people fall out of care and treatment.” Gender inequality also comes into play, as the World Health Organization reports on its website (www.who.int), “In 2008, only 52 percent of countries who reported to the United Nations General Assembly included specific, budgeted support for women-focused HIV/AIDS programmes.” This, even though global estimates done by WHO and UNAIDS that year found that women comprise 50 percent of people living with HIV.

The general public also continues to look askance at HIV testing due to a common foolhardy belief that one is “immune” from HIV/AIDS because of their youth/health or perception that it happens only abroad, as HIV-positive journalist and awareness advocate Wanggo Gallaga used to think. The stigma and discrimination that are part of the daily reality of those with HIV/AIDS doesn’t help either. “If we are going to reach our goal of ending the HIV epidemic, we need to do more to not only scale up effective prevention services but also increase access to HIV testing, strengthen links to care and treatment, and improve retention in care,” Sescon says. “There is also a need for specific behavior change programs to promote HIV prevention and reduce new infections in the Philippines.”

Bagasao also mentioned behavior change –– specifically, adequately converting knowledge to behavior –– as an important factor in the country’s problem with HIV/AIDS. “Continued risk behaviors and pervasive misconceptions among most-at-risk sectors despite seemingly high knowledge point to inadequacy of current behavior change interventions.”

Not only that but the law is also lacking in protecting the rights of those who live with HIV/AIDS and of those who are deemed to have socially unacceptable behaviors that are associated with the disease, i.e. gay people. “Other laws have restricted what the current law provides,” NSAP reports. “The Dangerous Drug law, for instance, has prevented evidence-based interventions for injecting drug users, while the Anti-Trafficking law has led to the criminalization of certain sexual identities. These need to be corrected.”

Beauty in making a difference

It is an uphill battle, no doubt, but it isn’t without support. Global cosmetics brand MAC Cosmetics has been an influential force in the fight against HIV/AIDS with the MAC AIDS Fund (MAF), created in 1994 –– just six years after the first World AIDS Day was celebrated. Through fundraising initiatives such as VIVA GLAM and Kids Helping Kids Greeting Cards, and by tapping celebrities from the entertainment and fashion industries as spokespeople for awareness drives,  MAF has been helping augment the finances of HIV/AIDS organizations worldwide in their healthcare operations; in the Asia Pacific region alone, MAF has donated over US$13 million.

It isn’t just in the monetary sense that MAF has been helping. With pop culture icons such as Cyndi Lauper, RuPaul, and Lady Gaga providing identifiable faces to MAC’s VIVA GLAM campaign, HIV/AIDS has become less of a taboo topic, less of a scary, foreign issue that is removed from most folks’ personal lives. MAC cosmetics senior vice president and MAF Global executive director Nancy Mahon says, “There has been tremendous progress in reducing stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS. But there is still progress to be made.

“This epidemic has a long history,” she continues. “The issue is, how do you make the biggest difference with the money you have in the shortest amount of time?”

What makes the HIV/AIDS epidemic so complex are the tough issues that drive it: sexual violence, poverty, homophobia. “There are still many places in the world where it is dangerous to be gay or to be living with HIV,“ Mahon says. “And in some countries, including the United States, there are still stories about women, men, and children being denied access to various services because they are HIV-positive.”

What makes MAF’s work remarkable is the organization’s determination to tackle these controversial issues that most other foundations are hesitant to broach. “We meet people where they are,” Mahon says. As MAC is company for all ages, all races, and all sexes, MAF supports programs that serve women, men, children, and transgendered individuals from all backgrounds who are stigmatized for being HIV positive. That includes sex workers, injection drug users, LGBTQ youth, and gay men.

“Viva Glam is the most important program that MAF started. It was introduced in 1994, and every single cent of the sale through the Viva Glam lipsticks has gone to the MAC AIDS Fund.” With MAC Viva Glam sold in over 70 countries around the world, the campaign has raised over US$250 million to date and has supported significant large-scale projects to make an impact on the HIV epidemic.

So how can we make a significant dent on the ballooning HIV/AIDS issue in the country? Get informed. Ignorance has been the most effective vehicle in the spread of HIV and AIDS, and it isn’t just textbook ignorance too but that disconnect between knowledge and behavior that need to be stopped. Hence, for those who have any had sexual relations, get tested. The Take the Test Project, started in 2010, offers free services on HIV counseling and testing and refers people to treatment hubs and support groups; their last free and confidential HIV screening for the year will be on Dec. 9 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the P. Bernardo Social Hygiene Clinic in Cubao. Get the dialogue going to spread correct information about HIV/AIDS and topics associated with them such as reproductive health, sexuality, LGBTQ rights, injecting drug use, and more. The more openly they are discussed, the less removed we will feel from the issue and more inclined to be proactive. And it wouldn’t hurt to get beautiful with a tube (or more) of Viva Glam Lipstick. With the MAC AIDS Fund, when you buy a lipstick, you literally save a life.

* * *

To know more about the MAC AIDS Fund, visit the official site www.macaidsfund.org. Find out more about the Take the Test project at www.takethetest.ph.

MAC VS. AIDS by numbers

365: Number of days in a year MAC helps fight AIDS, by donating 100-percent of Viva Glam products to the MAC AIDS Fund.

270,000,000: Amount of dollars MAC AIDS Fund has raised to-date to help men, women and children around the world.

2,000: Number of MAC employees who volunteered to donate their time, energy and skills to individuals affected by HIV/AIDS on World Aids Day.

158: Total number of countries that will be joining the volunteer effort organized by the MAC AIDS Fund.

Follow @MACcosmetics on Twitter and join the conversation using #WAD2012 and #VIVAGLAMx2.