NextGen Day

In honor of World AIDS Day, the US government gave PHP85 million worth of HIV viral load testing cartridges to the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday.

According to US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson, “These laboratory tests [cartridges] are further evidence that the US government is committed to working with the Department of Health, the community of Filipinos living with HIV, and local governments like Manila City to ensure that people living with HIV in the country have equitable access to a viral load test.”

An HIV test that measures the amount of HIV genetic material in a blood sample is known as an HIV viral load test.

The donation of more than 86,000 viral load cartridges, according to undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the DOH officer in charge, will be crucial to the nation’s HIV treatment program.

As it takes the lead in observing the release this year, “the DOH firmly advocates for equal access to services for persons living with HIV and complete protection of human rights. Achieving equity to end HIV intends to contribute to the global objective of ending as a public health by 2030,” she continued.

Through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the US government has given the Philippine government more than PHP1 billion since December 2020 to assist in HIV prevention, case discovery, and treatment efforts.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, an HIV-preventive medication administered by the DOH at more than 50 sites throughout Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon, was one of the contributions made as part of the support. It was donated in the amount of more than 81,000 bottles.

The Philippine government received this donation worth PHP31.3 million in June 2021.

access to services equally

DOH Undersecretary Maria Francia Laxamana pleaded with everyone to take audacious and prompt action to promote the appropriate setting, community-led, and evidence-based HIV services, such as prevention, sex, one, and reproductive health services, HIV testing, treatment, care, and support.

She added in a media briefing on Thursday that “during the previous two years of COVID-19, the global HIV response has been weakening, resources have been dwindling, and inequities have been widening.”

“Inequality still exists for the most fundamental services like testing, treatment, condom use, and other preventative measures, including new technologies,” according to the last 40 years of HIV response.

She continued by saying that all parties involved, the local community, and civil society organizations needed to take comprehensive action to address the epidemiology, social, economic, cultural, and legal determinants of HIV in order to achieve the goals of zero new infections, zero discrimination, and equality.

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