Instead of condoms, the Quezon City government will start distributing to Grade 8 students next school year books that aim to curb the alarming rise of sexually transmitted diseases among the youth.
More than a month after thumbing down the Department of Health’s (DOH) proposal to distribute condoms in schools, Mayor Herbert Bautista led the launch on Monday of the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) program to increase students’ knowledge on how they could prevent contracting the disease and where they can access health services such as HIV testing.
Bautista, however, pointed out that the initiative was not a direct response to the DOH proposal, noting that its launching was scheduled two months ago.
“We have to acknowledge that some adolescents are into risky sexual behavior and this has been proven in various surveys. [This initiative hopes] to improve HIV education in public schools. We will teach students how they can prevent HIV infection and if necessary, they will know where to access HIV services,” he said.
Last year, at least 26 Filipinos were diagnosed daily with HIV. Of the figure, 10 were from the National Capital Region, with two cases coming from Quezon City.
Through the books that would be distributed to 35,000 public school students starting in school year 2017-2018 and taught in their Mapeh (Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health) class, Bautista hoped to curb “the epidemic slowly infecting our young people.”