How to Celebrate the World AIDS Day Effectively

This is a commendation blog for the Valenzuela City Health Department for their successful implementation of the World AIDS Day celebration through a “Group Spoken Poetry Contest” with the theme, “Know your status. Get treated. Be treated.”

I was invited as judge to the said contest probably because I used to teach Philippine Literature in our local university and I was a member of the Gender and Development (GAD) Council – Technical Working Group (TWG), who has demonstrated ample understanding on the essential and pivotal role of gender responsiveness in nation building.

Spoken word poetry is a type of performance art which became popular a couple of years after I graduated in college. Unlike the old Tagalog delivery of poetry which sounded like a “Balagtasan sing-song,” a spoken word uses a distinct voice inflection to dramatize its message. Some use musical accompaniment, usually via a string instrument, to deliver the content piece more meaningfully.

 This activity is really worth emulating because of its carefully conceptualized program flow. Here are my observations why I say that the City Health Department celebrated the World AIDS Day effectively:

1.       The activity enjoined young literary artists to promote AIDS and HIV awareness campaign. This is not your ordinary no-brainer information dissemination campaign but a contest that appealed to young intellectuals. Majority of the contestants were young adults who expressed the depth of their understanding about the virus.

2.       They inserted an Open Forum about understanding the sickness better while waiting for the announcement of winners. It was an intelligent adlib when the project coordinators encouraged the audience to ask questions about AIDS and HIV. Some of the questions raised were (1) the difference between AIDS and HIV, (2) the possibility of an infant to acquire AIDS when the mother is a virus carrier, and (3) the precautionary measures to avoid the illness.

3.       Their panel of judges is knowledgeable of the technicalities of the contest. The panel of judges were consisted of Ramil Esguerra from AIDS Society, John Kenneth Maquiling who is a Filipino teacher in High School, and yours truly who is a performance art teacher and enthusiast.  

4.       Their message was consistent and clear. Bottom line, the whole program invoked that we are all responsible of our health conditions. If we want to live longer and we do not want to infect our loved ones with virus, we should never be afraid to get ourselves tested.

This Group Spoken Poetry Contest was held on December 13, 2018 at the Valenzuela City Hall AVR.

As I wonder what would be the City Health Department’s activity next year, I am pretty certain that it is going to be something with substance again.

Congratulations!