MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte has expressed support for the inclusion of a mandatory, age-appropriate HIV education program for high school students.
Noting the continuing increase in HIV cases among Filipino youth, the vice mayor stressed the importance of raising the youth’s awareness about HIV and other infectious sexual diseases.
“At a young age, they should be taught more about HIV and AIDS prevention,” Belmonte said in a recent forum on women and health at Barangay Batasan Hills. “I think the youth should be aware or have enough knowledge about HIV so they can avoid it.”
Citing figures from the Department of Health, Belmonte said there have been 11,103 confirmed HIV cases in 2017 all over the country, higher than the 9,264 cases recorded in 2016.
Most of the reported cases are in Metro Manila.
Last year, the Quezon City government launched a program that taught age-appropriate education on HIV and other sexually transmitted illnesses to Grade 8 students in some public schools in the city.
A self-risk assessment conducted on more than 4,000 students revealed that three percent were already sexually active and had risky behaviors such as having multiple sex partners, substance and alcohol abuse and “sex work.”
Belmonte said the education program resulted in a significant increase in HIV awareness among the participants.
She urged the national government to make such programs mandatory, citing the necessity to address the issue at the school level.
The vice mayor said the city government is active in its campaign to prevent the spread of HIV in the city.
She cited the city-operated social hygiene and sundown clinics that offer free HIV/AIDS testing, counselling, prevention and treatment.
“We now have two sundown clinics where anyone can get free HIV testing and we assure you that everything there is strictly kept confidential,” she said.