Hi Pozzie,
Anyway, my concern is about the supply of ARVs in the country. I have just started my ARV regimen a month ago and I have been hearing a lot of speculations when 2014 comes. We all know that the free ARVs that we are getting is from the Global Fund from the WHO, and is expected to be (for lack of better term) depleted by next year. The concern came up when I heard stories that during the time of former Pres. Estrada, the government stopped giving out supply of ARVs to PLHIVs. This caused too much worry, stress and problems to them. They even shared that they were taking expired medicines just to continue with the regimen. This scenario is very scary (*knock on wood*).
JM
POZZIEPINOY’S RESPONSE
Hi JM.
Thank your for your email. Thank you for finding the blog. I do hope that you will find all the answers to your questions here.
Years before, the program of ARV delivery was not as good not as the one we have right now that may have resulted to failures in the delivery of the ARV's. When the Global Fund started subsidizing the ARV's, the system became in order as year after year, there is ample supply of the medicines. Last year, the news broke out again that the Global Fund will stop subsidizing the ARV's. Because of this, I emailed Global Fund and you can read the response of Global Fund to my email below:
In the response letter, one can deduce that the grant will continue as long as the government continues to propose programs to GL.
In your training session, you heard it right that the country has now a responsibility to furnish all the necessary ARV's to the Filipino PLHIV's as part of their commitment to UN. That is the reason why, PhilHealth has a system in place "just in case" GL will pull out it's support to the Philippines. This was reiterated by my 2 infectious disease doctor when they said that PhilHealth is ready in the event that this should happen.
Now the question is this. While the government is organizing the system, are we ready to do our part in lobbying for better programs for PLHIV's especially about ARV delivery? Are we all prepared to come out and voice out our concerns once there will be problems that might arise once PhilHealth takes over? My point here is that not all the time, we will be dependent on the grants of GL. Later on, our government and possibly private organisations will take over, but of course they will be needing our voices during the process. We all should be prepared to take part in discussions later on to help in "perfecting" the delivery of ARV's by PhilHealth and not just be another bystander who won't do anything.
We don't know what the future will hold for us, but what we can do right now is to appreciate everything that is being given to us, and learn that a good system like this can happen, even without the support of the GL, if we start holding hands and start to be proactive because in the first place, we are the people who will benefit from all of these.
I hope I was able to answer your concerns. Feel free to email me again if you have other questions.
Stay healthy,
Pozziepinoy
"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
NO PLHIV is alone with his or her struggle with HIV!"
-Pozziepinoy-
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