We Can’t Medicate Away Prejudice

The opening of the “I HEART Clinic” in Cabatuan is a welcome step forward, a tangible sign of progress in our province’s fight against HIV. It brings essential services closer to those in need, and for this, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and its partners deserve commendation. But we cannot let the glow of a new facility blind us to the terrifying reality it represents. This clinic is a single lifeboat launched into a raging storm.

PHO Chief Dr. Maria Socorro Quiñon’s own words should shake us awake: of an estimated 4,300 Ilonggos living with HIV, more than half are undiagnosed. Let that sink in. Over 2,300 of our neighbors, colleagues, and family members are, as Dr. Quiñon said, “living in silence, unaware, and at risk.”

Why? The answer is not a lack of medicine or medical knowledge. The answer is fear. The staggering diagnosis gap is a direct consequence of the persistent, suffocating stigma that surrounds HIV. We have effective treatments that can lead to viral suppression—making the virus undetectable and untransmittable—but we have no pill to cure prejudice. People don’t get tested because they fear losing their job, being disowned by their family, or being judged by their community more than they fear the virus itself. Until we dismantle this wall of shame, even a hundred new clinics will fail to reach the silent majority.

This is not a problem health workers can solve alone. Dr. Quiñon’s call for a multi-sectoral response is not just a polite suggestion; it is the only viable strategy. The fight against HIV is everyone’s job, and it’s time to ask if we are doing ours.

For our Local Government Units: Is every Barangay Health Worker fully trained to provide confidential, compassionate counseling? Are you actively promoting testing and challenging misinformation in your own municipalities, or are you leaving it to the PHO?

For our Business Community: Your obligations are enshrined in law. Republic Act 11166, the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, explicitly prohibits discrimination in the workplace. Are you complying? Do you have clear policies and conduct educational programs, or are you fostering an environment where an employee would rather risk their health than their livelihood?

For our Schools and Churches: You are the moral pillars of our community. Are you using your influence to preach compassion and understanding, or are you reinforcing the silence and shame that allows this epidemic to thrive?

For our Families: The conversation starts at home. Are we creating spaces where sexual health can be discussed openly and honestly, without judgment?

And finally, for every Ilonggo reading this: when was the last time you took responsibility for your own health and got tested?

The I HEART Clinic is a vital tool. But tools are useless without the collective will to use them. The true battlefront against HIV is not in the hospital ward. It is in our workplaces, our barangay halls, our churches, and at our dinner tables. We can build all the clinics we want, but until we cure the social disease of stigma, we will continue losing the war.