Letter to ASP Members

6 November 2007


Dear Colleague,

You are invited to our annual membership meeting on December 4, 2007. We chose this occasion to welcome new members into our fold. In commemorating ASP’s decade of service in the campaign against HIV and AIDS we have aligned a number of activities including a symposium in the morning on “The AIDS Situation in the Philippines: A Critique (from the Holistic standpoint)” to be followed by a panel discussion, open forum, and dialogue with the media. This business meeting will be in the afternoon.

For both old and new members, please accomplish the revised membership form for the directory. Send them via fax or e-mail. Given our limited resources (this is a difficult year for all concerned) we will try to publish a newsletter with contributions from you on news items, announcements, research notes, or any reports of interest, quotations, etc. not just for our annual meeting but, we’re hoping, with your indulgence, on a continuing basis. How else will the world know that we exist?

Your membership fees are intact under a separate account. These are to be used only for activities in support of members. When we have enough, we could probably offer scholarships or modest assistance for training and research. We have attempted to write proposals for an endowment fund as it is the only way we could sustain our programs and activities apart from research grants which are far and few and could not be used for other purposes.

For now, we can at least offer the facilities of ASP for literature search, counseling and technical consultation, Basic HIV course, and linkages with partners through the Philippine National AIDS Council. Do let us know how we can be of help to your work and, on the other hand, what you can share with others in terms of your expertise and experience on HIV and AIDS-related topics.

Shall we see you in December, then?

Yours truly,



NELIA P. SALAZAR, PhD
President and CEO
AIDS Society of the Philippines, Inc


Membership form (download form)
Reply Form (download replyform)

Symposium and Annual Membership Meeting

4 December 2007, Tuesday
Cafe Mischka
(Across ASP Office)

Tentative Programme

AM
9:00 Registration
10:00 Opening Ceremonies
10:15 Storytelling 1 : Alitaptap Story-tellers Philippines
10:30 Symposium

The AIDS Situation in the Philippines : A CRITIQUE
(From the Holistic Standpoint)

Keynote address
ENRIQUE A. TAYAG, MD, FETP, FPSMID
Director IV
National Epidemiology Center
DOH, Philippines

11:15 Panel Discussion
* Zimmbodilion Y. Mosende (UNAIDS)
* Dr. Peter Ng (Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria)
* Marlene De Castro (BCYA)
* Siste Mae Alere (Asilo de San Vicente de Paul)
* Dr. Dorothy Agdamag (TDF)
* Red Batario (Center for Community Journalism and Development)



LUNCH

PM
1:00 Dialogue with Media Representative
1:30 Storytelling 2: Alitaptap Story-tellers Philippines
2:00 Closing Remarks

2:10 ASP Business Meeting (Member only)

Download Whole Programme

SYMPOSIUM on The AIDS Situation In The Philippines: A Critique (from the Holistic Standpoint)

The purpose of the symposium is to stimulate discussions on the nature and extent of the campaign against HIV and AIDS among Filipinos. What have been done and how are we faring so far? What have been the enabling factors and/or the constraints in efforts to scale up responses to HIV and AIDS at the national and local levels? To ensure that the interactions will be manageable, a number of key persons are being invited to represent their organizations’ stand on this issue. Let it be understood that the symposium is not about statistics per se.

AIDS being an affliction that permeates all aspects of human life impinges not only on the 6th UN Millennium Development Goal which is to reverse the onslaught of infectious diseases, but other goals relating to poverty, hunger, education, maternal and child health, gender, environment, and partnerships. A “newly emerging disease” which appeared in the last two decades, it tends to increase and spread to new geographic areas as a result of changing lifestyles and human behavior. HIV also has the potential for developing resistance to currently used antiretroviral drugs. Thus, a holistic approach to the debate is in order. On that note, where do values and quality of life belong in this scenario?

The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS enjoins countries to review and address the problem of HIV and AIDS in all its aspects to secure a global commitment to enhancing coordination and intensification of national, regional and international efforts to combat it in a comprehensive manner. On October 30, 2006 the First Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support in Low Prevalence Countries at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia called upon civil society and NGOs to continue to actively participate in the monitoring and reviewing of the national AIDS response and to feed into sub-national/national/international reporting mechanisms to ensure that commitments made are fulfilled.

Attached are two concept maps representing the environment where HIV and AIDS tend to thrive. Concept map 1 (download illustration) shows how social forces are at the root of Asia’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. The economic upheaval of the past two decades has resulted in increased population mobility and environmental degradation that encourages people to move to cities in search of better opportunities. Concept map 2 (download illustration) illustrates how HIV/AIDS is more than a biomedical problem, permeating all facets of people’s lives i.e., socio-cultural, economic, environmental, and governance.

At the end of the day, there remains the need to reckon with the challenges and issues of concern that this environment imposes vis-à-vis the goal of the Fourth AIDS Medium Term Plan 2005-2010 Philippines which is “To prevent the further spread of HIV infection and to reduce the impact of the disease on individuals, families and communities.”