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Showing posts from July, 2011

The League of Lovers

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They are the lovers, lovers of The Love Yourself Project. Join them by joining The Love Yourself Charity Photoshoot !

The Love Yourself Charity Photoshoot

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Tara, photoshoot na! You are invited to participate in Ian Felix Alquiros' first charity photoshoot for the benefit of The Love Yourself Project. All profit generated will be used in the provision of free counseling and assistance to the youth and key population affected by HIV/AIDS. Photoshoot participants donate Php1,000 which entitle them to (1) one Love Yourself t-shirt; (2) grooming services for the shoot; and (3) one digital photo layout, in the style of "Love Yourself." They say a picture is worth a thousand words -- in this special charity photoshoot, it's worth a thousand pesos and a lot of love, for yourself and for a society we envision free from the scare of HIV/AIDS. This photoshoot is open to all generous souls and beautiful people who have the heart to help. It will be on Sunday, August 14, 2011, from 10 AM to 10 PM, at #88 Panay Avenue, Quezon City [ location map ]. Get a priority shoot timeslot that's most convenient for you, register here .

We are now SEC-registered!

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The Love Yourself (VINN Advocacy for the LGBT-MSM) has been officially recognized as a corporation by the Philippine government on July 21, 2011. LoveYourself (VINN Advocacy for the LGBT-MSM) Inc. Company Reg. No. CN201112409. Company TIN 008-086-738. A definite milestone for the organization. Cheers!

Gibbs Cadiz: "I dodged a bullet."

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Gibbs Cadiz , Lifestyle desk editor and editorial writer at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, recently took his first HIV test. We feature below his honest and wonderful storytelling. Gibbs is a supporter of The Love Yourself Project. I had long danced around the idea of taking the test, for one simple reason: I was terrified. Despite my conscientious efforts otherwise, I have had occasional lapses of my own when it came to risky bedroom behavior. All these years the specter of the virus had seemed quite remote, abstract to me. I comforted myself in the thought that I was not into the alcohol-soaked scene, I didn't do drugs or Ecstasy parties and so had never lost my faculties in the haze of intoxication, had never frequented the bathhouse, took relatively good care of my health, and, at 40, has never had a major illness or health breakdown requiring hospital care. But who knew, really? Those occasional lapses were troubling enough, but just this year the subject became alarmingly sta

"Harapin na, para magawaan ng paraan."

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Using an AIDS patients dramatic recovery to demonstrate the effect Topsy and its antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme can have on those battling the advanced effects of HIV/AIDS. When treated, a person on the verge of death can return to health in a matter of months. And, Selinah today:

Let's talk. You are safe here.

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The Love Yourself (VINN Advocacy) project opens its doors to the youth and MSM community - inviting them to reach out, to talk, in a highly discreet and confidential conversation with the group's trained HIV counselors and life coaches. Fear and shame need not be barriers to seeking help. Love yourself, and let's talk. You are safe here. Email us at info@loveyourself.ph

Davao girl, 12, becomes youngest to contract HIV thru sex

DAVAO CITY -- A 12–year-old girl from this city has become the youngest person to become infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through sexual intercourse, a city health official said. Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, City Health Office (CHO) chief, said the girl is the youngest since the city started monitoring HIV cases in 1993. "Naay mga bata na karon na naga-engage na sa sex at a very young age (There are children now who engage in sex at a very young age)," Villafuerte said. She said 22 new cases of persons living with HIV, 21 of them are males, have been recorded between January and March this year. The new cases have brought the number of persons living with HIV in the city to 140. Villafuerte said 39 new cases have been recorded in the city in the whole of 2010. Although the figure shows that HIV is prevalent among men, Villafuerte said it is not yet conclusive that the highest incidence in the city is indeed men having sex with men. HIV

OFW Shares His HIV Test Experience

Migs the Manila Gay Guy is a big supporter of The Love Yourself Project . Below is an email from one of his blog readers, codenamed Oidlei1980 , relating his experience and lessons learned from going through his HIV test. We're sharing this letter here with permission from both Migs and Oidlei1980 in the hopes that a more positive and hopeful energy would embrace all of us who are concerned with the growing number of people infected and affected by HIV here in the Philippines. As Migs would repeat in his blog, sending all of you light and love! - o - Dear Migs , Greetings of Peace! (maiba namn from your World Peace!..hahahaha) Noong una I just got interested sa mga pictures posted sa website mo and I really did enjoy those and never paid much attention sa mga blogs and any other information posted...na very ironic for me to do that because mahilig ako magbasa. Kaya noong mga panahon na yun I just spent most of my time kakatingin ng mga pictures kung ano ang mga bago and minsan k

Do you want to help?

We welcome everyone who has the heart to help in the effort to curb the increase of HIV infection among the youth and MSMs in the Philippines. Every little contribution is welcome - your time, effort, skill, or financial support - we welcome all the help! Fill out this volunteer form .

A Day with the Boys: An HIV Confidential Counseling and Testing Event

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On July 10, 2011 the Love Yourself (VINN Advocacy) group, a not-for-profit organization focused on HIV prevention among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), in association with the Quezon City Health Department (QCHD), held their first advocacy project, “A Day with the Boys: An HIV Confidential Counseling and Testing Event” at 35 West Avenue, Quezon City. The event was undertaken together with volunteers from QCHD, Pinoy Plus, Take The Test, and representatives from SaMACKA. The event was able to serve a total of 54 clients from 10am to 5pm on that day. All 54 clients that were counseled and tested declared themselves as Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). As per DOH protocol, during the post-test counseling and release of the rapid HIV test result, all clients were given instructions: The blood samples of clients that turned out reactive will be sent to National Reference Laboratory-STD AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory / San Lazaro Hospital to undergo the confirmatory test. The QCHD will

Discreet and Confidential

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Love Yourself Founder Wins Nurse of The Year Award

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The Shorty Awards honor the best people and organizations on Twitter. These unique awards are for the Twitter community, by the Twitter community. Online voting is public and democratic, culminating in an awards ceremony that recognizes the winners in 26 official categories as well as crowd-sourced ones. On March 28, 2011, the 3rd Annual Shorty Awards proclaimed Love Yourself (VINN Advocacy) Founding CEO/President Ronivin G. Pagtakhan as Nurse of the Year, beating other nominees from around the world, and thus became the first Filipino honoree of the award-giving organization. Congrats, Vinn!

The People Behind the Group

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Who are the people behind The Love Yourself Project (VINN Advocacy)? OFFICERS CEO/President: Ronivin G. Pagtakhan Ronivin Garcia Pagtakhan is a registered nurse in the Philippines and California. He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Manila where he took his BS Nursing degree, and PWU for his MA Nursing degree. He has been an educator since he was 19 and he is currently a faculty member of Mapua Institute of Technology, Centro Escolar University, and UP core-group review CENE and other national nursing board review centers around the Philippines. He was among the topnotchers for the nursing board exam in 2004 and a university scholar. He has been active in socio-civic activities since his college days where he was part of the UP USC. He co-authored a book entitled National Board Exam Review Notes by CENE publishing. He was recognized as one of the 2011 MAPUA's most outstanding professors and recently won the 2011 Twitter Oscars Shorty Awards as the Nurse of the Year

History

VINN Advocacy was founded by Twitter Shorty Awards Nurse of the Year Awardee, Ronivin (Vinn) Garcia Pagtakhan. He was joined by very close colleagues and friends who were inspired by the increasing demand and queries by LGBT-MSM through social media such as Twitter on venereal infections. Vinn (Ronivin) thought that he could do more about these concerns, could touch more people than just by social media and could actually do something about it, thus consulted his close friend and colleague James Garcia Bon and James Worrasaran who had the same thing on their mind, and had an experience with such advocacy during their stay in the United States where they (James B.) took his Nurse Practitioner Residency. Since then, the organization exponentially grew through social networking and was spearheaded by a core group of concerned and socially aware YOUTH & LGBT-MSM professionals and supporters with diverse ideas and preferences yielding to the goal to minimize the morbidity rate and in th

Mission, Vision, and Goals

Mission: VINN Advocacy's mission is to serve as a resource centre for the youth & LGBT-MSM (men having sex with men) promoting wellness through education, prevention, cure and rehabilitation in response to venereal infections (STD and HIV) and sexuality concerns. Vision: VINN Advocacy's vision is to develop a safe, gender-sensitive society of HIV/STD-free youth & LGBT-MSM in the Philippines Long-Term Goal: VINN Advocacy's goal is to open a self-sustaining resource centre for the the youth & LGBT-MSM. The acronym V.I.N.N. stands for Venereal Infection Nuisance Nursing, wherein the word NURSING, has an operational definition that does not implicate nor has any relation to the nursing profession, but instead the verb connoting care or nurturing. This organization aims to help the Filipino YOUTH & LGBT giving priority to the high risk MSM (men having sex with men) sector to prevent, detect, treat and control the spread of sexually transmitted infections. STIs po