Going to a spa or a videoke bar in Quezon City? Chances are, you’ll be encouraged to “rubberize.”
As part of its campaign against HIV/AIDS, the Department of Health’s National Capital Region office is “flooding” massage parlors, nightclubs and KTV bars with two items that promote safe sex: Free condoms and information flyers.
Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa said the agency decided to start the campaign in Quezon City since it recorded the highest number of AIDS patients and asymptomatic cases in Metro Manila. The project is being held in partnership with the city government and the business group Samacka (Spa’s, Massage Center Club’s and KTV’s Association).
“We will be flooding Metro Manila with condoms if it is the only way we can prevent the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS,” Herbosa said Friday. “It is a critical and the only effective … and available tool in reducing the transmission of sexual infections and diseases.”
DOH-NCR will be providing the establishments with boxes of free condoms and flyers, to be strategically placed at entrances and front desks where customers can easily spot them and take some, the official said.
The flyers contain essential information about HIV/AIDS, Herbosa said.
Data from the Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry showed 224 confirmed cases in January this year, as reported by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory. The number is 23-percent higher than the 182 cases (involving 23 confirmed AIDS patients) recorded in the same period last year.
Records also showed that at least 90 percent of the cases were asymptomatic, wherein the disease carriers experienced no symptoms. The patients, mostly male, were aged between 17 and 68 but most of the affected were in the 25-29 age group.
Most of the patients acquired the disease through homosexual practices, according to the report. Twenty-eight were overseas Filipino workers.
Herbosa noted that a Filipino becomes infected with HIV/AIDS every two hours, resulting in 13 new cases daily, with half of the total cases in the country occurring in Metro Manila.
In Quezon City, there were 54 asymptomatic and six confirmed AIDS cases monitored; Manila: 34 asymptomatic and four confirmed cases; Pasig City: 34 and four cases; Makati City: 15 asymptomatic cases; Caloocan City: 14 and one confirmed case; Mandaluyong City: 10 and two confirmed cases.
In Pasay City, 11 asymptomatic cases were recorded; Taguig City: seven asymptomatic and three confirmed cases; Parañaque: six and two cases; Marikina City: seven and one confirmed case of AIDS; Malabon City: six asymptomatic cases; Las Piñas City: five and one case.
San Juan City registered four asymptomatic cases, while Muntinlupa and Valenzuela have three cases each. Navotas City had two while Pateros registered one asymptomatic case.