An official of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on the government Thursday to finally change its approach in combating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
In a radio interview, CBCP – Episcopal Commission on Health Care Executive Secretary Fr. Dan Cansino made the appeal with the surge of HIV incidents in the country despite the ongoing anti-HIV drive of the Department of Health (DoH).
DoH is currently promoting abstinence and condom to prevent the spread of HIV.
Instead of relying on artificial contraceptives, Cansino said DOH should consider focusing on the values formation to people, who are at risk of getting HIV.
“Until we give importance on the behavior change and importance of values, our strategies will not be effective and the cases (of HIV) will continue to increase,” Cansino said in Church-run Radyo Veritas.
DoH recorded 1,098 HIV incidents last May. It was the first time HIV cases in the country breached the 1,000 mark.
Based on DOH report for April this year, 629 people have HIV, 80 percent or 513 of them are between the age of 15 to 34 or the millennials.
It added that half of the number got infected for having sexual intercourse with the same sex.
The DoH has allocated PHP1 billion for the HIV-AIDs awareness campaign which included the distribution of contraceptives to schools.
The Catholic Church has repeatedly objected the campaign since it would only encourage the youth to engage in premarital sex. (Samuel Medenilla & PNA)