Reaction Paper

A lot of things happen when you least expect it. Over a decade ago, a disease that
was viewed as “low and slow” because of low prevalence rate and slow rate of new
infections, is now a big concern here in the country. HIV/AIDS was not that of a prime
concern of the Philippines way back in the early 2000’s due to low reported cases and
other top priority health issues that the country is facing and trying to solve during those
times; but just like what others have predicted, those times when the people and the
government doesn’t give that much of attention to HIV/AIDS was like the “calm before the
storm” because as years passes by, the number of reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the
country is getting bigger and bigger and HIV/AIDS is now officially a threat to all Filipinos
even to those who are not sexually active. Almost four decades since modern medicine
became aware of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the early 1980s, the
world is still grappling with the dreaded disease up to this day (Alegre III 2016).
Reproductive health issues, including government-sponsored mandatory sex education,
have always been a contentious issue in Catholic-majority Philippines (Herrin 2007). The
big challenge in HIV/AIDS prevention is going from simple awareness to effecting
behavioral change. This involves overcoming misconceptions and promoting such safe-sex
practices behavior, including the use of condoms (HAIN 2003). From “low and slow”
HIV/AIDS is now seen as the “deadliest epidemic” of our time and UNAIDS and the World
Health Organization (WHO) cites that fear of stigma and discrimination are the main
reason why people are reluctant to get tested, disclose their HIV status and take
antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

Even before when there were just small numbers of HIV/AIDS reported cases in the
country, there is already a stigma regarding with the disease, but because HIV/AIDS was
not the top priority before, proper public information and education seems to had been
neglected which caused a big stigma and discrimination for the people who are infected
with the virus today since a lot of people doesn’t have the right knowledge about HIV/AIDS
and a lot of false information continues to spread. Many people have fears, prejudices and
negative attitudes concerning HIV/AIDS; the stigma can cause people living with HIV being
insulted, rejected, gossiped about and excluded from social activities, in other words they
are being discriminated; these people who are stigmatized are marked out as being
different and are blamed for their difference, worst case scenario is that stigma can drive
people to physical violence. Whether perceived or real, stigma often fuels myths,
misconceptions and choices, affecting people’s education and awareness about HIV/AIDS
(N/A 2018) and as a result, people infected with HIV/AIDS may believe some of the things
that other people say about their illness even when those thing are not true. People living
with HIV/AIDS often feel nervous about telling others that they are infected due to the fear
of stigma or discrimination which is a bad thing because this can lead to isolation and
feeling of unsupported that can have a significant effect on their health and wellbeing.

“The epidemic of fear, stigmatization and discrimination has undermined the ability of
individuals, families and societies to protect themselves and provide support and reassurance
to those affected. This hinders, in no small way, efforts at stemming the epidemic. It
complicates decisions about testing, disclosure of status, and ability to negotiate prevention
behaviours, including use of family planning services.” -- In 2015, WHO released new
treatment guidelines that reflect the need to address stigma and discrimination as a barrier
to accessing HIV treatment. According to a study about HIV/AIDS (Baylis 2007) A lot of
HIV/AIDS positive people suffer from stigma and discrimination. There is even an ongoing
debate about whether stigma, fear and discrimination actually fuel the persisting spread of
HIV, or slow it down by reducing contacts between the whole population and high-risk
minorities, because these people are increasingly marginalised, not only from the society,
but also from the services they need to protect themselves from HIV; a study have
discovered that members who announced high levels of stigma were over four times more
likely to report poor access to care. This just put up to the enlargement of the global HIV
epidemic and a higher number of AIDS-related deaths. Self-stigma and fear of a negative
community reaction may hamper efforts in addressing the HIV epidemic by keeping on the
wall of silence and shame surrounding the virus. Negative self-judgement causing shame,
worthlessness and blame shows a significant yet neglected aspect of living with HIV. Self-
stigma affects a person's capacity to live positively, restricts meaningful self-agency, quality
of life, compliance to treatment and access to health services.
 The Philippine administration a decade ago became complacent with regards on the
proper plans and action concerning the prevention of possible outbreak of HIV/AIDS cases.
The disease was kind of neglected during that time because of other reasons that the
government had their focus on, and due to the fact that there were just small number of
HIV/AIDS cases at that time. Stigma and discrimination makes people vulnerable to HIV.
The disinclination to take an HIV test shows that more people are diagnosed late, when the
virus may have already advanced to AIDS causing for the treatment to be less effective,
increasing the likelihood of transmitting HIV to others, and early death. “Whenever AIDS
has won, stigma, shame, distrust, discrimination and apathy was on its side. Every time AIDS
has been defeated, it has been because of trust, openness, dialogue between individuals and
communities, family support, human solidarity, and the human perseverance to find new
paths and solutions.” -- Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. People should now
start to know facts, because misconception, stigma, and discrimination to HIV/AIDS
positive people must stop, these people need help more than we can ever imagine.