賦予婦女權力：解決菲律賓的愛滋病毒垂直傳播問題

資料來源：www.thelancet.com/hiv Vol 9 May 2022 / 財團法人台灣紅絲帶基金會編譯

    解決愛滋病毒/愛滋病流行病的一個關鍵目標是消除全球垂直傳播。 這在愛滋病毒感染率快速增長的資源匱乏的國家仍然是一個挑戰，例如菲律賓，只有 26%感染愛滋病毒的婦女接受抗反轉錄病毒治療以預防垂直傳播。這導致高達 35% 的 HIV 陽性母親所生的孩子透過垂直傳播被感染。

    這些統計數據可能歸因於針對某些人群的計畫開發中存在差異。並不是預防策略直接目標的菲律賓婦女不太願意接受 HIV 檢測，尤其是當她們不知道伴侶的狀況時。

    在一項全國性調查中，只有五分之一的女性能夠從當地的錯誤觀點中說出 HIV 的預防措施，並且在有多個性伴侶的女性中，只有 9% 透露了保險套使用史。總體而言，關於愛滋病毒的知識只限於生活在城市地區的婦女和社會經濟地位較高的婦女。這些不一致最終掩蓋了女性自身對 HIV 的脆弱性，她們只有在接受產前篩查時才會發現自己的狀況。即便如此，尋求治療取決於他們對診斷的接受程度、普遍的恥辱感和其他支出等因素上。

    這就迫切需要愛滋病毒感染者提供創新的解決方案。 LoveYourself 是一個菲律賓社區組織，在安全和包容的場所提供全面的 HIV 相關服務。 他們新推出的計畫和社群媒體活動 Transcend 側重於賦予順性別和跨性別女性權力，讓他們負責自己的性健康、消除愛滋病毒的污名，並公開討論與性別相關的社會政治問題。儘管資源有限，LoveYourself 已經成為菲律賓對抗愛滋病流行的領跑者，並在其他地區引發類似的努力。

   這些舉措激發了人們的希望，透過賦予婦女權力並使這些重要服務在最基本的層面上獲得，控制愛滋病毒透過垂直感染的傳播是可能的。

我們聲明沒有競爭利益。

*Patricia Anne S Basilio、Amanda Marie A Cheong、Michelle Ann B Eala 

psbasilio@up.edu.ph  菲律賓馬尼拉，菲律賓大學醫學院 

Empowering women: addressing HIV vertical transmission in the Philippines

www.thelancet.com/hiv Vol 9 May 2022

   A crucial target in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the elimination of vertical transmission across the globe. This remains a challenge in low-resource countries with fastgrowing HIV infection rates such as the Philippines, where only 26% of women living with HIV receive antiretroviral treatment for the prevention of vertical transmission. This builds up to 35% of children born to HIV-positive mothers being infected through vertical transmission. 

  These statistics might be attributed to the discrepancies in the development of programmes for certain populations. Filipino women who were not direct targets of prevention strategies were less inclined to undergo HIV testing, especially when they had no knowledge of their partner’s status. 

  In a nationwide survey, only one in five women were able to parse HIV prevention measures from local misconceptions and only 9% of those with multiple sexual partners disclosed history of condom use. In general, knowledge on HIV was partial to women living in urban areas and those of higher socioeconomic status. These discordances ultimately obscure women’s own vulnerability to HIV where they only discover their status when they receive antenatal screening. Even then, seeking treatment is dependent on their acceptance of the diagnosis, prevailing stigma, and other expenditures. 

  This creates an imperative for innovative solutions for people living with HIV. LoveYourself is a Filipino community-based organisation that provides comprehensive HIV-related services in safe and inclusive venues. Their newly launched programme and social media campaign, Transcend, focuses on empowering both cisgender and transgender women to take charge of their sexual health, destigmatise HIV, and open discussions on genderrelated socio-political issues. Despite their resource limitations, LoveYourself has become a frontrunner in the Philippines’ fight against the HIV epidemic, igniting similar efforts in other regions. 

  Such initiatives inspire hope that, in empowering women and in making these important services accessible at the most basic level, controlling the spread of HIV through vertical transmission is possible. 

We declare no competing interests. 

*Patricia Anne S Basilio, Amanda Marie A Cheong, Michelle Ann B Eala

 psbasilio@up.edu.ph 

 College of Medicine, University of the Philippines, Manila 1000, Philippines