HIV Forum Reaction Blog

credits to TopNews.in

          It is like a magician’s hat – with just a short forum, one could be informed about a lot of things that are indeed worth knowing. The forum on HIV-AIDS last December 3 was a part of the HIV-AIDS Consciousness Week. The goal of informing the students of UP Diliman about the said topic was made successful by Dr. Eric Tayag of the Department of Health, Mr. Jeffrey Acoba of Action for Health Initiatives and Mr. Ryan Pinili of Take the Test.

          We know that in our society, a large number of people still do not know that unprotected sex is not the only way of acquiring HIV. A lot of us did not even know that many people living with HIV are being persecuted for their sickness. This could mainly be because of people’s lack of knowledge on what HIV really is, as well as its other possible causes. This forum truly paved a way for the people not only to be more informed, but also to be more aware.

          Mr. Pinili opened the forum with a very brief introduction on HIV-AIDS through a video advertisement which lasted for a minute or two. The shortness of the video brought the fondness of knowing more about the topic. The statistics of a Filipino being infected by HIV every three hours is a fearful and sad truth.

credits to bubblews.com/news

          When Dr. Tayag stepped on the platform, he was quite funny, and this made the atmosphere lighter. He talked about some statistics showing the trend on the prevalence of the case, such as the sad truth of the 532% increase in the cases from 2008 to 2012. He also cleared out the three main instances wherein HIV can be acquired: unprotected sex, blood transfusion, and pregnancy or childbirth. His presentation gave clarity on the matter. It did not bring fear. Rather, it served as a driving force for the audience to be more responsible students and citizens, especially when he pointed out that unprotected sex is the most common way of acquiring the said sickness, and that the population of people living with HIV is getting younger as time goes by.

          Mr. Acoba focused on introducing different organizations that are working for different HIV-AIDS-related campaigns. His talk somehow gave the audience an overview of what it must feel like to live a life with HIV. He told stories of several people who experienced suffering and persecution despite their sheer efforts to live normal lives.

          The last part was the open forum which was taken part by the attendees. Many questions were asked, and this made the topic even clearer. One thing is the clarification on how this topic must be presented. The speakers explained that they base their way of presentation on their target audience. For example, the language to be used must be one that is understood by the majority. It is truly important that we know how to present this topic to people, while giving considerations to different factors, such as language, age and lifestyle of the people.

credits to geeky-guide.com

          A forum on a sensitive topic like this is scary and sad, yet significant and worthy. One could truly see how this could bring inspiration to others in different ways. Reversing the trend could still be far from our reach, but as what the speakers added, “With responsible sharing of the information, coupled with love and care, it is possible.” Indeed, it could be regarded as a right and a responsibility for every person to be properly educated on this serious matter, as well as to share this knowledge to others with love, care, and of course, with respect.