Intensified programs against surge in HIV cases pushed
Credit to Author: Javier J. Ismael| Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 17:01:18 +0000
SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday urged the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education to intensify sexuality education programs to protect the youth from sexually transmitted diseases.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, made the call amid reports of a spike of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases in the country.
At the end of 2019, the DoH’s Epidemiology Bureau reported that 36 new cases were recorded per day, higher than the 35 new cases recorded in July 2019 and the 32 cases documented every day in 2018.
A 2019 report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (Unaids) revealed that there were approximately 77,000 people living with HIV in the Philippines, more than 19,000 of which belong to the 15 to 24 age group.
The Unaids also identified the Philippines as the country with the fastest growing number of HIV cases.
Between 2010 and 2018, new HIV infections spiked from nearly 4,400 to more than 13,000 or 203 percent.
Among these new infections were men who have sex with men (MSMs), which accounted for 81 percent. Only 27.9 percent of these MSMs are covered by prevention programs and 49.8 percent use condoms as a preventive measure.
“One of the root of the situation that we face today is the lack of information that we could disseminate in our schools. It is sad and disturbing that despite of our efforts, still, more of our countrymen get infected of HIV,” said Gatchalian.
The lawmaker said combating the disease would require full implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11166 or the “Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act of 2018.”
RA 11166 mandates the Philippine National AIDS Council, an agency under the Health department to implement a six-year plan (AIDS Medium Term Plan), which includes awareness and education programs, to control the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country.
Gatchalian said interventions like sexuality education should sound the alarm on social media and dating apps’ role in the rise of the HIV epidemic, citing a two-year UN study released in 2015 that said these apps gave Asia’s teenagers expanded options for casual and spontaneous sex.
“For us to defeat this HIV epidemic, we have to go to schools and maximize opportunities to engage young and vulnerable people. And we can’t just teach them what the solutions are, we have to provide them access on those interventions,” Gatchalian added.