Health Secretary Francisco Duque III
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The Department of Health (DOH) is tapping into Filipinos’ obsession with beauty pageants in its drive to reduce the number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases in the country.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they would hold a “three-way pageant” involving men, women and transgender women to help address the country’s HIV/AIDS problem.
Dubbed “Lhive Free Redvocates,” the agency hopes to disseminate information with the help of the pageant winners, who will take part in the agency’s information drives.
The DOH will take the novel approach after new data showed there were 993 new cases of HIV in June, bringing the total for the year to 5,673 persons. —Jovic Yee