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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Friday, January 20, 2017
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FREE CONDOMS, ANYONE? The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines has started distributing free condoms and lubricants in Iloilo City. During last year’s Dinagyang Festival, the non-government organization distributed a total of 33,000 pieces of condoms. TV PATROL PANAY PHOTO
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ILOILO City – A non-government organization advocating responsible parenthood and safe sex is taking Dinagyang Festival 2017’s tagline “See, Feel, Love” to a different level. It will be distributing free condoms during the festivities.
The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) has set up a stall in front of its office on Rizal Street, City Proper from where anyone can get free condoms and lubricants on Jan. 21 to 22.
It’s a “good move,” said Dr. Bernard Caspe, city health officer. He, however, clarified that the free condom distribution is a private initiative of FPOP.
The organization has not coordinated with the City Health Office (CHO), said Caspe.
FPOP is a private organization and not under the CHO.
Caspe did not discount the possibility of a bustling flesh trade this Dinagyang season. Thus from the health sector’s point of view, he said, it is sensible to distribute condoms and advocate safe sex.
“Sexually transmitted infections (STI) could be prevented and so are unwanted pregnancies,” said Caspe.
For CHO’s part, said Caspe, it has started deploying the personnel of the Social Hygiene Clinic to check bars and inspect their workers.
The number of Western Visayans infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has risen revealed the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6.
The virus causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
The 1,516 cases in DOH’s records were cumulative cases from January 1986 to October 2016. Iloilo City had the highest at 393, followed by Bacolod City with 280 cases.
Iloilo province had 289 cases; Negros Occidental, 265; Capiz, 104; Aklan, 93; Antique, 64; and Guimaras, 28.
Data from DOH showed that 67 youths from 15 to 24 years old from Western Visayas were diagnosed with HIV during the first half of 2016.
One can get or transmit HIV only through specific activities. Most commonly, people get or transmit HIV through unprotected sex and needle or syringe use.
No effective cure for HIV currently exists, but with proper treatment and medical care, HIV can be controlled.
The medicine used to treat HIV is called antiretroviral therapy or ART. If taken the right way, every day, this medicine can dramatically prolong the lives of many people with HIV, keep them healthy, and greatly lower their chance of transmitting the virus to others.
Dr. Ray Celis of the HIV/AIDS Core Team at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) said that as of Oct. 30, 2016 they were catering to 550 persons living with HIV/AIDS. Around 86 percent or 478 of them were taking anti-retroviral medication./PN
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