KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — Merriment came with a good cause when PT Foundation threw a Christmas fundraising night.
Held at MoMo’s Kuala Lumpur on Friday (December 16), the ‘Cocktails & Candy Canes’-themed party saw RM2,500 being raised.
PT Foundation is a community-based, voluntary non-profit organisation that provides HIV/AIDS education, prevention, care and support programmes, sexual health and empowerment programmes for vulnerable communities in Malaysia.
It works with five key affected populations mainly drug users, sex workers, transgenders, men who have sex with men (MSM) and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV).
In 2018, PT Foundation set up the Community Health Care Clinic (CHCC) as a social enterprise, in response to Malaysia's ‘National Strategy to End AIDS’ in Malaysia 2016-2030, which called for targeted healthcare interventions for key populations most affected by HIV and AIDS.
At the venue entrance, there was a PT Foundation booth with community health centre manager Ramesh Vadiveloo on hand to greet guests.
According to Ramesh, PT Foundation conducts an average of 3,000 HIV tests a year, which works out to 250 tests a month.
“We offer two kinds of HIV rapid test: third generation HIV rapid test that detects HIV antibodies with a window period of three months and a fourth-generation rapid test that is able to detect both antibody and antigen, which shortens the window period to one month.
“We have been able to get the third-generation test kit sponsored by the Ministry of Health, but we need to procure the fourth-generation test kits from our own funds.”
Ramesh said the event was a success overall, in terms of guest experience and amount of funds raised.
“Our target was raising enough funds to provide 40 free fourth-generation HIV test for tertiary students (above 18 years old) and B40 individuals, but we raised enough funds to provide 50 free fourth- generation HIV tests.”
Ramesh added that the venue’s laid-back atmosphere made everyone comfortable, with music spun by DJ Nicky O.
“The guests also enjoyed the mingling games by our host, Will Quah and Nat Kang.
“We are planning to have this event every quarterly to complement our 'PrEP for the Underprivileged' programme, which provides a PrEP starter kit for those want to start PrEP but can't afford it.”
For more details on PT Foundation’s Community Health Care Clinic, visit https://www.chcclinic.org/.
