What is the Duyan Program?
Duyan Program: Saving Children with HIV and AIDS is a program of Project Red Ribbon which aims to provide care and support to children with HIV and AIDS in the Philippines. “Duyan” is a Tagalog noun which means “cradle” and Project Red Ribbon’s Duyan Program will cradle these children with HIV and AIDS with care, love and attention, to improve their quality of life until they once again are healthy, playing and going back to school.
In the Philippines, the incidence of children being born with HIV continues to rise. With this increase, come with these issues: inadequate supply of pediatric antiretroviral medicines for HIV children, inadequate pediatric HIV care in treatment hubs, inaffordable laboratory tests and medicines for AIDS-related infections, blood transfusion needs and maintenance of health like milk formula, vaccinations, and diapers while in the hospital. Economically challenegd parents even have difficulties in taking their children with HIV to the hospital for regular check ups and refill of their kids antiretroviral medicines. Aside from that, stigma and discrimination compund the issue with parents being evicted from their homes and some children are abandoned when the mother or both parents die due to AIDS.
How can the Duyan Program help children with HIV and AIDS?
The Duyan Program will assist children with HIV and AIDS by:
- Providing indigent mothers and guardians with PhilHealth membership to extend the coverage of the Out-patient HIV and AIDS Treatment (OHAT) package to their children with HIV. This will enable the children access to:
a. Baseline Laboratory tests
b. Free consutation in government treatment hubs
c. Access to pediatric antiretroviral medicines
d. Hospitalization benefits
2. Assisting children with HIV for their medical needs:
a. Laboratory tests for AIDS-related infections
‘ b. Medicines for AIDS-related infections
c. Pediatric 3rd line - antiretroviral medicines
d. Vaccinations
e. Blood Transfusion
f. Other medical needs
3. Transportation fare to and from the treatment facility.
4. Courier of the children’s antiretroviral medicines to the
provincial homes
5. Maintenaining good health:
a. Milk formula
b. Diapers
c. Children’s clothes and toys
d. Vitamins
e. Other medicines
6. Support Group activities through monthly activities where the kids can come to a venue where they can interact, play games and just have fun. Project Red Ribbon has engaged the children in play activities in parks, swimming pools, or in fast food places. After the activity, the Foundation give out gifts from our sponsors.
Project Red Ribbon’s Duyan Program helps children with HIV from newborn babies to 17 years old. To date, the Foundation has been assisting 134 children with HIV from different HIV and AIDS Treatment Hubs in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
For more information about the Duyan Program, please email Project Red Ribbon at contact@projectredribbon.org