UNAIDS Philippines is pleased to announce its newly appointed UNAIDS Country Coordinator - Ms. Teresita Marie “Bai” P. Bagasao. She assumed office last 12 February 2008.She has been with the UNAIDS Secretariat since 1996, working initially in Geneva as Programme Development Officer for Asia Pacific, and then as Chief of Partnerships, overseeing work with civil society and private sector from 2001. In May 2005 till this appointment, she was reassigned to UNAIDS Bangkok to manage the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum (APLF) on HIV/AIDS and Development.
Prior to joining UNAIDS, Ms Bagasao headed Kabalikat Foundation as Executive Director for 10 years. A Philippine health and development NGO, Kabalikat focused on maternal and child health issues, including working with private sector on social marketing campaigns on sexual and reproductive health. Her involvement in the HIV and AIDS response began in 1987 with a pilot prevention project with sex workers in Manila. This then expanded to advocacy and capacity building among sex workers, young people, other development NGOs and people living with HIV in country and across the Asia Pacific region. She was one of the first NGO representatives to the Philippine National AIDS Council and contributed significantly to the drafting of
what is now known as Republic Act 8504, or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, a UNAIDS best practice in AIDS legislation. As Regional Secretariate for the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations from 1992 to 1996, she contributed to the development and support of a number of regional NGO networks working on HIV and AIDS and their participation in national and regional policy-making bodies.Ms Bagasao graduated with a degree in Bachelors of Science in Social Work and a Masters of Arts in Psychology.
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