Different Communities Observes World Aids Day

Different communities gathered at the Cebu City Sports Center-Oval in Cebu City on Sunday, December 1, to observe the World Aids Day 2019.

World Aids Day 2019, dubbed as “Communities Make the Difference”, encourages everyone to create and spread awareness in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

“Nakita gyud nato no nga HIV cannot be left to a certain sector of the government, it has to be a group effort (We have witnessed that HIV cannot depend on the government all the time, it has to be a group effort),” said Dr. Van Phillip Baton, Medical Officer III, Department of Health (DOH) Central Visayas Center for Health Development.

Baton also revealed that the DOH has certain partners in making the observation of World AIDS day in Cebu successful.

“This actually is also supported by our partners such as national and international bodies,” Baton added.

From January 1984 to July 2019, Central Visayas had reportedly 6,153 cases. National Capital Region (26,832 cases), CALABARZON (10,431), Central Luzon (6,543) and Davao Region (3,917) also topped the regions with the most number of HIV cases.

94% are males and fell under the 25-34 age bracket.

Meanwhile, the DOH encouraged everyone to also maximize the use of the social media to spread awareness and to use condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. (MLC)