We need to act faster, and we need to act now!
Advocates sound the alarm over cases of HIV among adolescents.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocates express grave concern over the latest Department of Health report that more adolescents are getting infected with HIV. There were 86 Filipinos aged 19 years and below diagnosed with HIV in January 2023, with almost all of them having acquired the infection through sexual contact. Six children were infected from mother to child. All these cases could have been prevented.
“This latest report reminds us again of the worrying trend and the need for urgent action from the government and other stakeholders. Let this be a distress signal to implement Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) determinedly and strongly. We also call for robust, rights-based, community-led, and accessible testing, treatment, care, and support programs for HIV and AIDS for young people, women, and gender-diverse people,” states Marevic Parcon, Executive Director of Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), a southern-based global network for SRHR.
Advocates call on prioritizing and fully implementing CSE as mandated by the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012. As a vital element of young people’s SRHR, CSE is essential in the prevention, treatment, and care of HIV, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections. An enabling environment in schools and communities, especially in poor and rural areas, should be created to ensure young people have access to age and development-appropriate, rights-based, and evidence-based information. When they have the appropriate information, young people develop the life skills to make informed decisions about their bodies and lives, such as having safe sex and healthy relationships that recognize consent and gender equality. Furthermore, advocates call on the government to lift barriers that impede young people’s full access to sexual and reproductive health services, such as the third-party consent requirements, for the attainment of #SRHR4All.
Contact:
Christelyn Sibugon
Asia Projects Coordinator, WGNRR
teta@wgnrr.org