AIDS program gets P1.7-M aid

CEBU CITY — The STD and AIDS Prevention and Control Program can look forward to drug supplies and laboratory facilities after Mayor Tomas Osmeña approved P1.7 million for inclusion in the next supplemental budget.

Christopher Alix, chairman of the city council’s committee on hospital and health services, said there are 56 HIV cases reported in the AIDS registry of the city health department.

A total of 2,807 establishment-based female sex workers are registered with the Cebu STD/AIDS detection unit and the social hygiene clinic of the city health department.

The program includes routine bi-annual serologic examinations for female sex workers and the annual HIV/AIDS surveillance for groups practicing risky behaviors.

This would mean, Alix said, that there is an urgent need for the STD/AIDS detection unit to monitor annually the trends of the infection and the behaviors that increase the risk of acquiring HIV.

"The presence of HIV and other STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) like gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis continuously threatens the health not only of female sex workers but the general population as a whole," Alix said.— Freeman News Service