A strong campaigner against HIV-AIDS in Negros Oriental has agreed that the plan of the Department of Health (DOH) to distribute condoms in schools by next year will help prevent spread of the disease.
Dr. Fe Sycip-Wale, Mission Coordinator of the Marina Mission Clinic in Dauin, Negros Oriental, was reacting to the DOH announcement it will distribute condoms in the different schools following a reported rise in the number of HIV-AIDS cases especially in the youth.
Health Sec. Jean Paulyn announced recently during the World AIDS Day celebration that as soon as the strategies are fine-tuned, the agency will be giving out condoms to the schools through the Department of Education.
DOH statistics showed that a total of 38,114 HIV cases were recorded from 1984 to October 2016.
From 2011 to 2016, DOH data showed 32,099 cases, with 10,279 HIV cases during the period involving 15 to 24 year olds.
According to Dr. Wale, in her opinion the use of condom is one way of prevention especially because “these days, the young people are really engaged in pre-marital sex”.
“There is no doubt about that. They are very open (about it)”, said Dr. Wale, who headed the HIV-AIDS Prevention Project of the Marina Clinic under the auspices of the Silliman University Extension Program.
That project has long since been terminated, and the HIV-AIDS campaign was endorsed to the City Health Office of Dumaguete following the creation of the HIV-AIDS Council in the city, said Dr. Wale.
But, the Marina Clinic’s involvement now is on providing education on HIV-AIDS to students of the different high schools and the Dauin community, Dr. Wale said.
According to Dr. Wale, during the height of their advocacy and campaign on HIV-AIDS, they trained peer educators among the out-of-school youth in Dumaguete City, providing them with condoms and teaching them how to use these.
“Because that was part of the project and we had money and so we bought lots of condoms”, Dr. Wale added.
The doctor, however, also emphasized that parents have a bigger responsibility as well on the moral aspect in educating the younger generation on HIV-AIDS and pre-marital sex.
“When we are given a healthy body and healthy reproductive organs, we have to use our mind, spirit and soul for the decision because that is our responsibility”, she added.
Dr. Wale also pointed out that based on her personal analysis, the spike in the number of HIV-AIDS cases in the youth today is mostly with the gay community.
She went on to say that personally, she believes heterosexual people are less involved now in pre-marital sex because of the continuing education on HIV-AIDS in the past.
Also, the trend nowadays, such as the use of illegal drugs, has a strong influence on a person’s decision to engage in unsafe sex, Dr. Wale added.
Meanwhile, the Silliman University Marina Mission Clinic (SUMMC) in Dauin, Negros Oriental has received 30 units of mobile phones from Smart Communications, a wireless services provider in the Philippines to boost its health services offered to its clientele.
The Marina Mission Clinic is a 24/7 primary hospital under the auspices of the Extension Program of Silliman University in Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental.
The turnover was held recently alongside the official launch of the Health, Emergency and Life Support (HEALS) Project of the SUMMC.
Prof. Emervencia Ligutom, Director of the SU Extension Program, disclosed that SUMMC commenced its 24/7 operations in June, this year, to uphold and affirm Silliman’s commitment to provide health services.
The HEALS project aims to increase the access of quality primary health care services to the local community, Ligutom added.
Also, it will make available effective and affordable health care services to the underprivileged individuals, families and communities in Dauin and nearby municipalities.
For Dr. Ben Malayang III, president of Silliman University, he said “we’d like to look at the Marina Clinic as a clinic with the community”.
The idea is that the clinic is not part of the community but the other way around, Malayang said during Monday afternoon’s simple project launch and turnover ceremony.
“The concept here is to involve as many of the trained professionals around the community to be with us in the delivery of health care through this very modest facility”, Dr. Malayang added.
Atty. Jane Paredes, senior manager of Smart Communications’ Public Affairs in the Visayas-Mindanao region, turned over the 30 units of refurbished smartphones to the Silliman University officials and some health care professionals.
The mobile phones will be distributed to the health workers in the different barangays of Dauin to speed up communication with the Marina Mission Clinic and provide access to health services to the people.
Atty. Paredes said these mobile phones operate on 2G (or second-generation wireless telephone technology) for text messaging and calls, and she believes there is enough signal for this purpose in most areas in Dauin.
The donation does not include cellphone load, Paredes said.
She said Smart Communications is happy to support the HEALS project, through the provision of the cellular phones that will be used as a “lifeline”, which she describes as being vital “when it comes to saving lives and to respond to emergencies”. (PNA/JFP)
