Advocacy group appeals to gov’t: Support ‘continued, uninterrupted’ access to HIV drugs

MANILA, Philippines — An advocacy group on Friday appealed to the Philippine government to let them have “continued and uninterrupted access” to anti-retroviral drugs that are used to fight HIV amid the enhanced community quarantine imposed in Luzon due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.

In a statement, advocacy group LoveYourself Inc. asked help from the national government, local government units, Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines to ensure the “smooth delivery” of drugs to the health services so that the people with HIV would still have access.

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed Luzon island under enhanced community quarantine in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.

To date, the Philippines has 230 confirmed cases of the disease, of which 18 have died.

“People living with HIV have become more vulnerable to contracting any diseases due to limited access to their life-saving medication, following the imposition of Enhanced Community Quarantine and declaration of the entire Philippines under a state of calamity amidst the COVID-19 situation.” LoveYourself Inc. founder Ronnievinn Pagtakhan said in a statement.

Pagtakhan said that while the group also understands and abides with the Department of Health (DOH) directives to contain the COVID-19 spread, he added that the delivery of such drugs is “crucial” to address the HIV pandemic.

Citing DOH data, the advocacy group said that there were 3,029 new cases of HIV recorded in the country from October to December 2019. Such cases brought the total number of HIV cases to 74,807 since January 1984.

“On behalf of all our clients and even other HIV treatment facilities, we humbly request the government authorities to help us deliver our services not only to our clients but also to anyone who needs to take their ARVs,” Pagtakhan said.

“These life-saving medicines support their health requirements because missing out on taking anti-retroviral drugs poses a danger to their health and in achieving an undetectable status,” the LoveYourself, Inc. founder added.