Albay AIDS Council Pursues Campaign to Combat STI and HIV

LEGAZPI CITY, March 18  - The Albay Council on Reproductive Tract Infection Control (ACRTIC) otherwise known as Albay AIDS Council is determined to pursue its campaign to fight the spread of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) and HIV here.

The council is also set to launch the distribution of free condom in various entertainment establishments. It has urged operators or owners of night establishments to make condom available and accessible.

In a statement, Albay AIDS Council clarified that giving people access to condom was not meant to promote artificial contraception of promiscuity, but rather a reminder to the public of the importance of responsible sexual behavior in combating STI, HIV and AIDS.

Albay board member Herbert Borja, chairman committee on health and co-chairman of the ACRTIC expressed alarm over the increasing STIs in the province specially among students. "Our aim is to reduce the number of STIs."

He also urged the three Social Hygiene Clinics in the province (Legazpi, Tabaco and Daraga) to ensure availability of services specially among Most at Risks Population. "The services of SHC is not limited to at risks population, it caters to all even those vulnerable groups."

The council explained in the statement that the condom distribution should not be construed as a signal that the government is advocating sexual licentiousness.

The free condoms were just a tool of a creative campaign aimed at promoting awareness on HIV/AIDS prevention at a most opportune time. The month-long Magayon Festival is set to have a grand opening on April 5.

The council's role in the campaign will focus on raising public awareness and information dissemination, to explain the ABC campaign to the throng of people that flock here during the Magayon Festival.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda expressed concern over the increasing number of STI cases and of Bicolanos with HIV. "Albay AIDS council, provincial health office and the Albay Millennium Development Goal are working closely to strengthen their efforts in the fight against the spread of infectious disease in the province and establishment of social hygiene clinics in other municipalities is now being worked out," he said.

Philippine National AIDS Council director Ferchito Avelino reported that as of March 18, 2010 the total HIV cases among Bicolanos who may be or not currently residing in the Bicol region are: Camarines Norte - 9; Camarines Sur - 32; Albay - 25; Sorsogon - 17; Catnaduanes - 9; Masbate - 5, a total of 97.

Five new cases have been reported from the months of January to March this year.

"The challenge for us is to ensure the call to action by people who must make the difference and ensuring that action taken is the right and needed action," Avelino said.

He added that this calls for urgent engagement regardless of personal and political differences.

The Department of Health (DOH) on the other hand emphasized the fact that it was not pushing condom use as the exclusive method to combat HIV/AIDS, as some critics of the Ingat Lagi campaign accused, and defended the activity as just part of the three-point campaign to combat HIV/AIDS known by the acronym ABC - A for "abstinence from sex", B for "be faithful to your partner" and C for "condom use". The health agency also pointed out that the distribution of the condoms to adults was undertaken by a private merchandising firm, DKT, and that the government did not spend for the procurement of the condoms, as it was also DKT that supplied them.

The DOH further said that it will continue to push the ABC program more aggressively in light of reports of the alarming increase in HIV/AIDS cases in the country, so as to empower the public with information on how to deal with this threat.

This information will then allow individuals to choose and use the most appropriate means to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. (PNA)

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