Human-Interest
New pet peeve unlocked: 'Parang nagfe-Facebook sa ATM dahil sa sobrang tagal!'

New pet peeve unlocked: 'Parang nagfe-Facebook sa ATM dahil sa sobrang tagal!'

Inanunsyo ni Dr. Edsel Salvaña sa kaniyang Facebook post na ang Pilipinas ay nagwagi sa IDea Incubator contest ng Infectious Diseases Society of America Foundation kamakailan lamang, na idinaraos tuwing taon sa IDWeek conference. Sila rin ang nakasungkit ng People's Choice award.

"Woohoo! WE WON INNOVATION OF THE YEAR AT IDWEEK! We also won the People's Choice Awards! Thank you for supporting Philippine Research! This is the first time an international innovation won!," mababasa sa kaniyang post. 

Ang proyektong ito ay pinondohan ng Department of Science and Technology (DOST) sa pamamagitan ng Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, at kasama ang pagpapabuo ng isang portable na HIV drug resistance test.

Isa sa sampung Pilipinong may HIV ay mayroon nang preexisting drug resistance bago magsimulang uminom ng antiretrovirals. Kapag hindi agad natukoy, napapataas nito ang risk sa treatment failure at kamatayan.

Ayon pa kay Dr. Salvaña, na isang Manila Bulletin columnist, “HIV drug resistance testing typically requires a very sophisticated laboratory with expensive specialized equipment."

"In fact, there are currently only two laboratories in the Philippines that do HIV drug resistance testing – the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine laboratory and our own Central Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health."

"We developed an accurate, quick, and portable HIV drug resistance test that can be deployed in resource-limited settings at half the cost of a conventional test."