On December 1, 2015, pioneering HIV advocacy organization The Red Whistle, together with Virtualahan and Supreme Support Service, spearheaded “The Cupcake Test”—a social experiment in Davao City, to understand more about how the lack of HIV knowledge continues to fuel stigma and ostracism of people living with HIV.
In celebration of World AIDS Day, two actors played as HIV-positive people, giving away cupcakes they baked for the special occasion.
A lot of people which they approached refused the cupcakes outright, and some expressed concern about the possibility of getting HIV from the cupcakes.
There was, however, a glimmer of hope: some of those interviewed said that people “should not judge a person even if they are infected with HIV”, that we all “should be more proactive when it comes to AIDS”, and that “there’s already medical treatment for HIV”—reinforcing the truth that everyone must take measures to protect themselves, whatever their status is.
This year, the Philippines reported the highest number of HIV cases on a daily basis: 22 people testing positive–a huge leap from the 17 people in 2014. Since 1984 when the first HIV case was documented in the Philippines, the country has leapfrogged to 29,079 cases as of October 2015.
Stigma plays a huge part in the unreported cases: many fear getting tested for HIV, because they’re afraid that people will discriminate them should they test positive. And with misconceptions about HIV and AIDS still prevalent, more undocumented people will fall through the cracks—never accessing treatment and support necessary to fight the disease.
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PrEP prevents Negative people from becoming HIV+. PrEP is one tablet (Truvada) once a day, everyday.
An Undetectable viral load prevents HIV+ people from infecting Negative people with HIV (TasP). The Partner Study and since then many others have shown this to be the case.
Who's spreading HIV then? If you haven't been TESTED, you may not know that you already have HIV, this means that you could have a high Viral Load (this can be as much as 5 million copies), this is why it's IMPORTANT to get TESTED and go on TREATMENT.
The one thing preventing you from going for a TEST is fear that you will be HIV+, we call this the Stigma of HIV. However, you need to know that once on medication, you will NEVER get AIDS and you will live a normal life and die from old age.
Together we can End HIV and Stigma by getting TESTED and going on medication (TasP) and if you're Negative, use Condoms and PrEP.
HIV has changed, have you?
Try the same with Ebola cakes, or sewage works cakes, or even love cakes. People will question why they are free first most.
People are right to be wary of strangers offering them food and drink.
Singling out aids when std transfer can be covered jointly is rather daft also.
Be safe always. Especially strangers!
It was so nice to see the authentic connections and trust.
And it was great to see the openness of those who weren't sure -
I'm guessing now they have more accurate information and will be less fearful next time such lovely people walk up in the street and offer them cupcakes :)
:-)
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