Worlds AIDS Day: What It Means To Me

Today is World's AIDS Day but I hope it will be the start of a new perpective in life among PLHIV's, HIV advocates, parents, counselors and the community as a whole.

My awareness with this condition started way back in the eighties as I have been raised by family members working in medical and health related profession. Eventually, I have to be in this field as well in college and eventually pursued  the medical profession and part of my work is to continue to learn the current concepts on this condition.

It is true indeed that the advances in medicine have been very tremendous during the past 20 years and PLHIV's today are considered to have ' better' opportunities for the best health care services as we know have a lot of  ' free' social hygiene clinics for testing, more accessible medications, more understanding of the course and more options to do researches on this conditions in the advent of  the world wide web.

In  a resource-strained country like the Philippines, our best option is to advocate for early testing and know one's status since a whole lot of things can be done if you are still in your best health at the time of diagnosis through preventive health activities and educations like proper diet, exercise, good rest, taking supplements , good personal hygiene and environmental sanitations. These are actually even applicable to even people not affected by HIV and these are without any side effects. By being optimistic about all of these, living one's life among HIV positive to near normal life expectancy is definitely possible but everyday should be lived with commitment towards that goal.

For those into ARV already, the best option is work closely with your doctors, family members and friends to get the full benefits of the intervention. Consolidating your health care providers with family and friends will maximize your speed towards recovery and  claim back your life. Doing research by yourself will also help especially in this era of internet. Living a good life and joy with this condition can be challenging but definitely possible. There are a lot of sources of joy in life...enjoying time with friends, families, commit to a hobby , interest, advocacy and spiritual pursuits. Of course, money will always be a part of your journey toward recovery but again if you can consolidate all the people in your life who can help you together then it will become affordbale and practical. Its just important to find people who can share on your journey towards long life.

Lastly, education.. continuous education to be exact is very very important to prevent and control the spread of this condition.

The natural course and epidemiology of this condition is no longer confined in the medical books or among doctors. The Center for Disease Control website of the US is a very good and reliable storage and knowledge for this condition. Its just imperative to gain knowledge and information from the proper forum and not from hearsays.

Eradication of  HIV spread is a work in progress. Living with it up to your normal life expectancy is doable if you are commited. Researches for cure are taking steps forward from China to South Africa. Everthing is possible and we just have to believe.

Philip Tjr.

Medical Practitioner

HIV/AIDS Advocate