Pinoy Plus Association Inc.
Positive Turn
PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 2009

Pinoy Plus Association Inc. (PPAI) is the only association of its kind in the Philippines with 100% of its members people living with HIV and/or AIDS (PLWHAs) – this “difference,” so to speak, allows seropositive members to speak in behalf of seropositive Filipinos, thereby making the voice not mere representatives, but the very people infected (thus, affected) by HIV and/or AIDS.

Among the services offered are: Counseling for HIV infected and affected Filipinos (that’s inclusive of affected people, e.g. partners and/or families); Referrals (e.g. to care and support groups); Care and support programs (particularly since access to good-quality care remains limited, with only a few tertiary government and private hospitals only in major city centers offering institutional care); Skills building for PPAI members and/or similarly-minded groups; et cetera.

During the 1998 International Conference on AIDS, Malabanan E. Atayan wrote (for PPAI) Education: Addressing Violations on Human Rights, where it was stressed that “so many PLWHAs are not aware that their rights are being violated. For those who are aware of their rights, they find it difficult to assert them.”  With this concern, PPAI, therefore, “collaborated with Alternative Law Research and Development Center, a non-governmental organization involved in promoting alternative lawyering and doing advocacy work on HIV/AIDS and human rights related issues, in a project which has as its objectives: a) to educate its members on human rights; and b) to build their skills in facilitation and popular education.”  The same project, of course, “also trained members of PPAI on how to monitor and document human rights violations.”

It is noteworthy that “PLWHAs became aware of their rights, and as a result, they became more confident in asserting their rights, particularly those affecting quality of care. PLWHAs can now evoke their rights against media harassment; (just as) healthcare providers became more careful in their service delivery. The right to information regarding treatment is now also being carefully observed.”

It is due to similar efforts that the awareness that “educating PLWHAs about their rights prove to be effective in reducing the incidence of human rights violations among PLWHAs.”

With people affected by the issues the best people to talk about these/their issues, PPAI’s existence is, indeed, among the best voices to represent Filipino PLWHAs/PHAs.

For information, call (+632) 5244507 or 9215465758, or email pinoy_plus@yahoo.com, pinoyplus@edsamail.com.ph.