AIDS Society Of The Philippines » DOH http://www.aidsphil.org/cms Prevention + Control Sat, 26 May 2018 06:56:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Playing it Safe for the Holidays http://www.aidsphil.org/cms/2012/04/playing-it-safe-for-the-holidays/ http://www.aidsphil.org/cms/2012/04/playing-it-safe-for-the-holidays/#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2012 02:39:10 +0000 ASP http://www.aidsphil.org/?p=127 On April 5 and 6, Take The Test, with the support of the AIDS Society of the Philippines, will conduct a free mobile VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) at White Beach, Puerto Galera, a prime holiday spot for locals and foreigners taking advantage of the long Holy Week vacation. People flock to the beaches of Puerto Galera to kick back, relax, and enjoy, but whether or not the fun is on the beach or somewhere more intimate, it is advisable for fun seekers to take precautions.

As a prevention site of the Global Fund and as a partner of ASP, it has been a tradition since 2009 to have a mobile VCT at Puerto Galera. With 274 new cases reported by the Department of Health as of February 2012 (6 cases more than December last year’s highest number of 268 cases), knowing one’s HIV status is essential in preventing HIV transmission, especially in a place where the sun is hot and the bodies even hotter.

But given this temptation, is it worth the risk of infection? Promoting awareness in a place where there is risky behavior is important in preventing HIV. The Lenten Season is a time for reflection, after all, not a time for infection. Take the HIV test. Party but play it safe.

]]> http://www.aidsphil.org/cms/2012/04/playing-it-safe-for-the-holidays/feed/ 0 Going Social to Raise Awareness http://www.aidsphil.org/cms/2012/03/going-social-to-raise-awareness/ http://www.aidsphil.org/cms/2012/03/going-social-to-raise-awareness/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:35:27 +0000 ASP http://www.aidsphil.org/?p=125 Many of the outreach effort that promotes STI, HIV, and AIDS awareness have used different media to get their messages across. Internet, particularly social media, has outgrown other forms of communication as the fastest way to readily exchange available and accessible information and ideas. However the downside of this is that it is also the medium of choice for sexual negotiations or “hooking up” among casual partners, unguarded minors and sexually active youth engaging in practices that leads them to being at risk of or vulnerable to STI or HIV infection.

AIDS Society of the Philippines (ASP) takes part by expanding outreach to the discreet population of males having sex with males (MSM) in the country emphasizing on health information and HIV education, motivating health-seeking behaviour towards accessing voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT).

In response to the use of the internet as a venue to hook up and have sex, ASP, with support from the Department of Health and the Global Fund, contracted online peer educators that succeeded in their approach to assimilate in chat sites and online groups gaining an average of at least 30 VCT clients in a month referred to social hygiene clinics and the ASP off-site VCT clinic conducted every first Friday and third Saturday of the month. This online peer education approach is still in its infancy but it accords huge potentials for social awareness, reaching more and more people in the viral media and confronting hidden population in Facebook and other sprouting online groups.

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