Friday, May 19, 2006
Gay group urges other gays to help stop Aids
A NON-government organization of gay men is urging the gay communities in Davao City to help prevent and stop the spread in the city of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids).
"Being one of those who are vulnerable to Aids, we are calling the attention of the gays in Davao City to prevent and stop the spread of HIV and Aids in the society," Iwag Davao executive director Rhoy Diaz said during the I-Speak press conference Thursday.
Diaz said there are four sectors in the society who are most vulnerable to Aids.
Diaz cited the gays who practice man to man sexual relations, people involved in prostitution, drug users who especially take drugs using unsterilized injections and the migrants sector as those who are more prone to acquiring Aids.
Aids, he said, is the last stage of HIV infection.
However, it can be prevented by abstaining from sex, being mutually faithful to a partner, practice of safe sex such as use of condom and non-penetrative sex.
Michael Jesus A. Mahinay of the Advocacy Care and Support Program of the Alliance Against Aids in Mindanao (Alagad) said from January 1984 to February 2006, the Department of Health has recorded 2,454 HIV and Aids cases in the Philippines of which 17 are from Davao City.
In the world, he said, 15,000 gets infected with Aids everyday of which 8,000 are youth. (BRQ)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 19, 2006 issue)
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