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Due to the current pandemic that we are facing, clinic services and schedules are affected and may change anytime to serve you better and for the safety of everybody including HACT staff. Please keep posted on new announcements and please visit our facebook contact channels regularly for new upadates. We are asking for your kind understanding specially on this trying times. #GlobalSolidarity #SharedResponsibility.

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Hope and Care Today Clinic

Mindanao AIDS Advocates Association Inc.

Ha Ct

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For the past Twelve years, MAAAI has been a constant recipient of the programs and activities of LGUs, LGAs, NGOs and grants from ISEAN - Hivos Philippines. Among its memberships and affiliations include: Davao City AIDS Council, RHWC, CSSDO, DANGAL - Pilipinas Network – NSAP, PCCM, DSWD, City Health Office, DOH, and SPMC– HACT. MAAAI also actively partnered with private yet civic-minded organizations, such as the association of psychologists in Davao City (to provide free counseling for PLHIVs and their families), St. Camillus (a religious arm that similarly provides HIV-related support) and other Faith - based Organizations.

The organization was officially launched as a treatment care and support group on May 09, 2009 at Episcopal Training Center in Matina, Davao City under the care and support services of the Alliance Against AIDS in Mindanao (ALAGAD Mindanao) with 16 founding members.

The Mindanao AIDS Advocates Association found its first home in the office of ALAGAD Mindanao, Inc. located at #557 Kamuning Street, Juna Subd. Matina, Davao City. MAAAI settled in this office for three years. It later on transferred at the 2nd floor of Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) Bldg., Jacinto St., Davao City for 5 years and today were in SPMC-HACT clinic, SPMC Compound Dumanlas Road Davao City.

MAAAI acquired its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registration on October 24, 2011.

MAAAI still continue serving the people of Davao and nearby Provinces until today.

Planning for a vacation travel? Having fear coming to your treatment hub? Have your ARV delivered to your doorstep, as easy as 123.

Maximize GRAB EXPRESS Delivery now, GIVE AS A CALL , or message us at Mindanao AIDS Advocates Association Inc.

NOTE: This applies to SPMC-HACT clients only.

Call us before booking 0951-410-8208

email us at mindanaoadvocates@gmail.com

SPMC HOSPITAL ADVISORY

mask that is allowed and not allowed in the hospital premises, please be guided accordingly to avoid more inconvenience in your part when visiting SPMC Specially SPMC-HACT Clients.

Pls refer to the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/909399792433012/posts/3644068115632819/

In 2008, a group of PLHIVs in Davao City saw the need to form a Mindanao-centric group that will look after the needs of PLHIVs in southern Philippines. And so the Mindanao AIDS Advocates Association Inc. came into being, eventually becoming an organization that is helping affect the HIV related local efforts.

Sometime in September 2008, 18 people living with HIV (PLHIVs) gathered in Davao City, and – after seeing the need for a Mindanao-centric PLHIV organization – they saw the need to form some sort of Mindanao-focused support group. Immediately, a set of officers was elected (helmed by Razz Catipan as founding president, Nidgie Tindoc serving as vice president, Genclyde Santos serving as secretary, Mel Borda serving as assistant secretary, Meralyn Eltagonde serving as treasurer, and Rosanna Hermosa serving as treasurer); and a year later, when the group already had some 60 PLHIV members, Mindanao AIDS Advocates Association Inc. (MAAAI) was officially formed.

According to Mel Borda, the formation of MAAAI was “largely due to the continuing increasing number of PLHIVs in Mindanao. We needed to come up with localized support for PLHIVs,” he said.

That there is a need for such a group goes without saying. While the city only recorded a total of 570 HIV cases since 1992 (42 of whom already died), and the broader Davao region recording a total of 672 cases for the same period, Davao City is actually one of the HIV hotspots in the Philippines. Currently, an estimated 10 to 15 people from the city are getting infected with HIV every month, so that – according to Borda – the current figure could balloon by the end of the year. “We can’t wait for the worst to happen before we take action,” he said.

MAAAI was officially registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October 2011.

Currently, the organization has 180 members, “and all of the members are PLHIVs – we’re empowering PLHIVs to help empower other PLHIVs,” Borda said.

There are numerous programs undertaken by MAAAI, though these focus on: advocacy and networking, capacity building, and care and support. For instance, “we have meaningful involvement in school campaigns,” Borda said. Through such avenues, PLHIVs are also able to share their stories through testimonials, which have become “one of the ways for us to increase knowledge and awareness about HIV in the community.”

MAAAI also actively partnered with branches of the local government unit (LGU), such as the Local AIDS Council (LAC), Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Labor and Employment; as well as private yet civic-minded organizations, such as the association of psychologists in Davao City (to provide free counseling for PLHIVs and their families), and St. Camillus (a religious arm that similarly provides HIV-related support).

There remain numerous challenges – foremost of these the “financial needs for sustainability of the organization,” said Borda. This is particularly since MAAAI helps its members in dealing with their needs, including medical needs, “so funding for the same isn’t always forthcoming.” MAAAI also offers services to non-members of MAAAI, “since we acknowledge that we don’t live in a vacuum.” Fortunately, there are other “good hearted people and organizations (locally), and PLHIVs are already being referred for free to them – this really helps a lot in the carrying out of our efforts.”

A focus for MAAAI remains the “empowerment of PLHIVs, especially newly diagnosed clients,” Borda said. This is because at the end of the day, “PLHIVs need to learn that PLHIVs themselves can help solve the issues they are facing. This is a key lesson for everyone.”

By Mikee dela Cruz

Meet Nathaniel David, who tested HIV-positive in 2010. Open about his status, thereby helping give face to HIV, he surprisingly experienced discrimination from other people living with HIV who did not want to be identified with HIV. He continues to hope for the “acceptance of PLHIVs. Dapat pag-usapan ang stigmatization (We need to talk about stigmatization),” he says.

This is part of “More than a Number”, which Outrage Magazine launched on March 1, 2013 to give a human face to those infected and affected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the Philippines, what it considers as “an attempt to tell the stories of those whose lives have been touched by HIV and AIDS”. More information about (or – for that matter – to be included in) “More than a Number”, email editor@outragemag.com, or call (+63) 9287854244 and (+63) 9157972229.

Sometime in 2009, Nathaniel David had to go to a doctor because of a skin infection. “May zoster ako sa face (I had zoster on my face),” he recalled. It was “getting big, and since I was signed to a local modeling agency, this was affecting my work.”

At that time, the doctor only gave me “something to treat the skin breakouts. Mga ointment, mainly.”

But what he had only worsened, and – in a half-joking manner – he said that “kinain na ng virus ang mukha ko (the virus already ate my face).”

With his worsening situation, Nathaniel eventually added another doctor to check other deemed ailments. A year after he first visited to a doctor, “tatlo na silang naging doktor ko (I already had three doctors).”

None of these three doctors actually had him tested, or even recommended for him to get tested for HIV. Instead, “isa sa kanila, sabi niya, hindi gumagana ang gamot. Mahina daw siguro ang immune system ko (one of them said that my medicines are not working. That maybe my immune system is weak).”

So Nathaniel went online and started searching about “weak immune system”.

“Dalawa lang nakikita ko na tugma sa akin (I only saw two situations apt for my situation) – cancer and HIV,” Nataniel said. And then “when I was reading about cancer, sabi ko, ‘Hindi nangyayari sa akin ‘yan (I said, ‘That isn’t happening to me)’.” However, when he was reading about HIV, “sabi ko, ‘Yan ang pinagdadaanan ko (I said, ‘That’s what I’m going through)’.”

This was also particularly since he was sexually active – and unsafe at that – in the years before then. Having modeled, he said, had its benefits. And being attractive meant being able to “do it with whoever.”

So in 2010, “isang taon makalipas ang unang pag-visit sa doctor (a year after the first visit to the doctor),” Nathaniel had himself tested for HIV. The result, as he expected, was reactive.

Nathaniel admitted being depressed “for months”. He even had suicidal thoughts. One time, while walking past a bridge, he thought of jumping into the river. But “marunong naman ako lumangoy, so hindi ko tinuloy (I know how to swim, so I didn’t jump off the bridge).”

Nathaniel said that “kung may baril ako sa bahay (if I owned a gun at home), I’d have already shot myself.”

He got “over myself eventually,” said Nathaniel, who was also helped by the Foursquare Gospel Church, whose members “accepted me”; as well as a local HIV-centric organization, whose members “showed me I’m not the only one with HIV”.

And so, soon, he started taking his ARVs and started getting better. But by then, HIV already left an indelible mark on his face, and he could no longer return to his modeling career. Looking wistful, Nathaniel said: “Kung nakita mo lang ano ang itsura ko noon (If you could have seen me as I looked then)…”

There was a shift in him, though, as a person. As he started getting physically better, he also started becoming emotionally stronger. As early as 2011, around a year after his diagnosis, Nathaniel already wanted to publicly come out, thereby giving a human face to HIV.

People close to him (e.g. his mother) know about his status, and they’ve all dealt with it well, Nathaniel said. The surprise for him came from the PLHIV community itself – particularly when Nathaniel finally publicly came out through media interviews.

“They shunned me,” he said. “Ayaw nila ma-associate sa akin (They did not want to be associated with me).” It was like “nahiya silang makita kasama ako (they were ashamed to be seen with me).”

In a way, Nathaniel said he understood, since “they all thought that to be seen with a person known to be HIV-positive, then they’d all be associated with HIV. Nahihiya sila (They were ashamed).” For Nathaniel, however, being shunned by other PLHIVs was “masakit (painful).”

If it’s any “consolation”, his relationship with the local PLHIV community was eventually mended when – years after Nathaniel came out – that same community that shunned him finally realized the value of having out PLHIVs. Other PLHIVs from Davao City also eventually allowed themselves to be interviewed by the media.

Nathaniel still has issues – e.g. he still gets depressed, such as when he broke up with a partner. But “I cope with life,” he said. The secret, if it can be called that, is in “staying optimistic; at least trying to be optimistic.”

Nathaniel eventually hopes for the “acceptance of PLHIVs. Dapat pag-usapan ang stigmatization (We need to talk about stigmatization),” he said.

For now, though, he wants to help out in further empowering PLHIVs. “Tulungan ang isa’t isa (Help each other),” Nathaniel ended.

Published by: https://outragemag.com/nathaniel-david-finding-voice-as-a-poz/