{"id":4711,"date":"2018-02-01T13:04:43","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T13:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=4711"},"modified":"2018-02-01T13:04:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T13:04:43","slug":"what-i-learned-after-talking-to-people-living-with-hiv-by-jacqueline-arias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=4711","title":{"rendered":"What I learned after talking to people living with HIV by Jacqueline Arias"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: Before I published this article, I had the rare opportunity of actually having lunch with a person in New South Wales believed by many to be carrying the HIV virus. The person will not be named to protect his\/her privacy. According to that person, the HIV was diagnosed some 25 years ago. After having been treated with a series of FREE injections and medications over the years, the person claimed that he\/she no longer has the infection. The person clearly stated that the World Health Organisation provides free medication in its rigorous attempt to totally eradicate HIV. Note that WHO is successful in getting rid of Small Pox.)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between being knowledgeable of something and seeing it with your own eyes. I kept that in mind when we went to a hospital ward for people with HIV infections.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It started off like a regular morning: I endured the rush hour traffic and had breakfast with the MAC Viva Glam team before we were briefed on facts about HIV\/AIDS.\u00a0We were also told on what to do and what not to do while talking to the clients. One of the first rules was to call them \u201cclients\u201d and not \u201cpatients\u201d so they don\u2019t feel pitied. It was then followed up with reminders to not ask insensitive questions and to not take photos without their permission.<\/p>\n

Despite these, the goal of the visit was to help and give them hope amid their disease. It\u2019s so we could break the stigma that people HIV\/AIDS are infectious and should be ostracized from society. Most especially after\u00a0PDEA illegally disclosed an HIV-positive man amid a drug bust operation<\/a>, and the comments about it were harsh and ugly.<\/p>\n

Upon entering the ward, I admit that I was bracing myself for something that might instantly make me cry. (Luckily, I didn\u2019t.) But what welcomed us were clients who were more than willing to converse even though they felt weak.<\/p>\n

I met a few clients in the ward. Not going to disclose anything about them to respect their privacy, but it was a delight to get to know them and their families a bit. It was also touching to hear them say that they\u2019re determined to get better so they\u2019ll get discharged from the hospital.<\/p>\n

At that moment, I realized that those living with HIV\/AIDS are just like you and me. You wouldn\u2019t know that they were afflicted unless they told you, and more importantly, their condition isn\u2019t contagious.<\/strong><\/p>\n

People with HIV should not be ostracized<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is also why people shouldn\u2019t ostracize them. Instead, we should offer our support and not make them feel like having HIV is a death sentence.\u00a0There is a way to treat it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We observe World AIDS Day so it\u2019s best to\u00a0read up on the facts<\/a> and\u00a0spread awareness<\/a> as a contribution to the cause. Go visit the clients at your nearby hospital and get to know them. Offer your support to friends who confide in you about their condition. Break the stigma that people from all walks of life should be ashamed to have this. It\u2019s about time we start treating HIV\/AIDS like any other disease that needs curing and not look at it as a curse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: Before I published this article, I had the rare opportunity of actually having lunch with a person in New South Wales believed by many to be carrying the HIV virus. The person will not be named to protect his\/her privacy. According to that person, the HIV was diagnosed some 25 years ago. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}