There’s more to this folk wisdom when applied to Filipinos’ grasp of the risks and dangers from the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/Aids).
According to the April 2007 figures of the health department’s HIV/Aids National Epidemiology Center, majority of HIV/Aids cases among Filipinos is still sexually transmitted: of 23 new cases in April, nine each happened from heterosexual and homosexual contacts, and five from bisexual contact.
Of the April 2007 cases, 21 cases or 81 percent were males. Majority affected were young professionals aged between 25 and 39 years. This was disclosed in Jujemay G. Awit’s June 15, 2007 report in Sun.Star Cebu.
Topping those afflicted with HIV/Aids are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs): seafarers (33 percent), domestic helpers (17 percent), employees (nine percent), entertainers (eight percent), and health workers (six percent).
Weakened sex
According to the Remedios Aids Foundation Inc., the trend of the past five years points to five “populations at risk”: women, young adults, men having sex with men (MSM), sex workers, and OFWS.
Dominating the economic, social and biological circumstances that increase these groups’ susceptibility is lack of correct information on how HIV/Aids is acquired and spread.
According to www.remedios.com.ph, “HIV is passed more easily from men to women... because the reproductive tracts of young women are prone to injury during intercourse, increasing their risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV.”
Few women assert their right to be protected from risky sex. The foundation notes that many female sex workers cannot negotiate that their clients use condoms. Due to economic dependence, female partners feel powerless to stop their mates from resorting to promiscuity or commercial sex.
Superman myth
The stifling of sex education in homes and schools breeds a dangerous soup of misconceptions about HIV/Aids among young people. According to the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (Yafs) 3 by the University of the Philippines Population Institute, many youths think that Aids can be cured and that they cannot contract STIs when they are not buying sex.
The Yafs 3 shows that young people’s practice of premarital, commercial and unprotected sex, coupled with misconceptions, puts them at risk of STIs.
Society’s stigmatization of MSMs and the consequent secrecy to avoid shame and discrimination makes many men, whether homosexual or bisexual, opt for anonymous, casual and paid sex. This behavior, as well as their limited access to HIV/Aids information, prevention and treatment, puts MSMs in greater sexual jeopardy.
Life of lies
The Remedios Aids Foundation Inc. observes that the culture of secrecy, due to the illegality of the sex trade, forces workers and their handlers to lie to customers about hygiene. Studies in sentinel sites also show that “STI infection rates were high even among registered sex workers with weekly-updated health cards.”
Among migrant workers, many studies show low knowledge on HIV/Aids, low condom use, poor health-seeking behavior, and little preparation for loneliness, cultural adaptations and difficult living and working conditions abroad.
OFWs’ vulnerability is exacerbated by macho biases, such as the seafarers’ goal to “taste women at every port.” The risk to wives and partners is that machismo imposes a code of silence about this “other” life.
