Early testing ‘best response’ against HIV — health officer

Contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) doesn’t mean the end of the road for one’s life.

John Paul Bautista, the case manager for people living with HIV in Caloocan City, shared that as a health officer, he regularly conducts counseling sessions for both HIV-positive patients and those suspected of being infected.

“First of all, they are shocked, at the same time, that’s when their 'what ifs' begin to increase.”

Bautista said that he also observed that they are starting to overthink the effects of their disease on the status of their work and family.

Based on their accumulated data, most of the HIV-positive individuals are within the age group of 15-24 or the age bracket of adolescents to young adults.

He said that the increase in HIV cases among the age group 15-24 sounded the alarm, prompting the local government to lower the range of the testing age.

Their data also showed that most cases originated from male-to-male sexual intercourse.

HIV can be contracted through sexual contact, sharing of needles, and from mother to her baby during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding, which is also known as vertical transmission.  

Bautista also broke the stereotype that gays usually carry the HIV disease.

“Just because someone is gay, it doesn't mean they have HIV; just because someone is gay, it doesn't mean they carry a disease."

Early Testing

In the Social Hygiene Clinic at Caloocan City Hall, patients who suspect they may have HIV can request an HIV Self-Testing Kit to determine whether they carry the virus.

Bautista shared that it can be self-administered using blood tests.

“It is a box, wherein everything is there — including the procedure steps.”

However, Bautista shared they don’t have jurisdiction if the patient ever doesn’t follow up despite testing positive.

“That’s our challenge. We can’t monitor everything. Our staff are contacting them for follow-up, however, there is just an allotted time to contact the patient, if ever the patient doesn’t reply, we can’t follow up already.”

“When it comes to client-centered case management, whatever the patient’s decision, we should respect it,” the health officer added.

What’s next for HIV+ patients?

There is still no cure for HIV patients, however, the health officer emphasized the importance of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) that help an HIV-positive patient.

“We have ARVs, which put the virus to sleep, preventing it from multiplying. However, this doesn’t mean that the virus will go away by simply taking the ARVs,” Bautista emphasized.

He also mentioned the terminology U=U, which means that undetectable equals untransmittable.

Under the U=U, it means that once HIV gets undetected due to the continuous intake of ARVs, the HIV-positive individual cannot spread the disease anymore.

However, he emphasized that being undetectable doesn’t mean that the HIV is already gone.

Some of the common ARVs are Abacavir, Emtricitabine, and Lamivudine.

“These are available in our local government unit, so we are already distributing these medicines in Caloocan City,” the health officer highlighted.

The local government of Caloocan City is eager to conduct an information drive in schools and communities to raise awareness about HIV and curb its increasing prevalence.

They are also conducting vaccination drives, especially the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV), which prevents cancers caused by the human papillomavirus, including cervical cancer.