Visit from Joshua T. Formentera, Executive of PAFPI

In early March Joshua T. Formentera, the Executive Director of Positive Action Foundation Philippines (PAFPI), visited Australia and, while here, held a public talk about the work currently being done by PAFPI to address HIV/AIDS in the Philippines.

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA has been supporting PAFPI for over five years to provide basic HIV prevention education, peer AIDS counselling and training of trainers. As a part of the education campaign PAFPI targets Filipino migrant workers, who are highly vulnerable to HIV infection. According to the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) and the Department of Health, 32 percent of all 2,354 reported HIV cases in the Philippines are migrant workers who have returned from abroad.

The Philippines is one of the leading exporters of labour in the world. More than eight million Filipinos, a total of 9 percent of the population are working overseas. Filipinos leave for prosperous destinations including Hong Kong, Japan, the Middle East, Taiwan, Singapore, the USA and UK. They directly support more than 30 million family members who are highly dependent on the income earned by their relatives abroad.

The linkage between HIV and AIDS and migrant workers mainly accrues from arduous living and working conditions. Most migrant workers live abroad as singles. Undoubtedly, many of them have sexual contact in the host country, often without or failure to use condom. Migrant workers are consequently highly vulnerable to HIV infection, and so too are their partners upon return from their work abroad.

Most of the Filipino migrant workers are in fact women who leave home to earn an income for their families. They work in domestic jobs or as entertainers and often work in societies where women's human rights are not respected. Most of the jobs the Filipino women obtain are at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy, placing them in individualised work situations involving isolation, risk and the absence of social support networks. They often take jobs where they are underpaid and in many cases they have very little bargaining power.

PAFPI hold daily seminars about HIV and AIDS, facilitated by people living with HIV and AIDS and health-trained educators. The seminars begin with an informal evaluation of the participants' knowledge and awareness. The participants are then provided with accurate information about the nature, transmission modes and prevention methods of both sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) and HIV. Discussions of gender relations and communication activities such as role-play introduce different ways to negotiate safer sex and are included to strengthen the individual's capacity to better protect himself/herself.

The PAFPI HIV/AIDS education module, combined with discussions about coping mechanisms and stress reduction for people living with HIV/AIDS, are vital in preventing HIV infection in the Philippines in the future.

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.
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Last Modified: Tuesday, 15-Aug-2006 11:24:55 EST
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