THE Commission on Population and Development (PopCom) 7 is holding its advocacy program for the millennials dubbed as “H.E.A.R.T. to H.E.A.R.T.” in Cebu City on Friday, Feb. 14, 2020.
The program is an orientation and education advocacy campaign aiming to create awareness on the growing number of teenage pregnancies. It will also tackle the alarming increase in cases of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which if left untreated leads to Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and the sexually transmitted infection (STI) cases among young people in Central Visayas and other parts in the country.
According to the PopCom 7, the essence of its campaign is to correct the misconception and misinformation of young people about certain topics such as sexual intercourse.
The “H.E.A.R.T. to H.E.A.R.T.” campaign was developed as an advocacy module by the PopCom 7 population representative Carl Dave Ang in 2017, and he was supported by PopCom 7 Director Bruce N. Ragas, Assistant Director Darlyn Remolino and technical team head Myrna Alaba. H.E.A.R.T. stands for HIV, AIDS and STI; early sexual encounters; adolescent sexuality; reproductive health; and teenage pregnancy.
Educating teens
The “H.E.A.R.T. to H.E.A.R.T.” advocacy campaign has been reaching an average of 20,000 people each year since it was launched in 2017 on Valentine’s Day, which is observed every Feb. 14. The PopCom 7 intends to influence and educate the adolescents of this generation to be aware of the possible consequences of early sexual encounters.
Based on the latest Young Adult Fertility Study 4 (Yafs) by the University of the Philippines Population Institute, 17 is the average age of sexual encounter in Central Visayas for both male and female. Most of these encounters had happened at home while parents were away.
Internet access
Some Yafs papers also cite the strong relationship between Internet access and early sexual encounter among the youth. Another study from the Philippine Statistics Authority alarmingly shows that from 2011 until 2016, there were 190 cases of teenage pregnancies among nine-year-olds; and that a 10-year-old gets pregnant every week.
The August 2019 HIV/Aids and ART (Antiretroviral therapy) Registry of the Philippines reports 95 percent of the 1,228 newly confirmed HIV-positive individuals are male.
The median age is 27 years old from an age range of 1-72. Almost half of the cases, or 47 percent, are 25-34 years old and 35 percent are 15-24 years old. S