Dr. Celia Brillantes, Assistant City Health Officer, told the Baguio City Council last Monday that there is a pressing need to create an HIV/AIDS coordinating council in order to intensify the city’s programs against HIV/AIDS.
Brillantes expressed her support for the passage of an ordinance authored by Councilors Levy Lloyd Orcales and Joel Alangsab which will be called the ‘HIV/AIDS Program in the City of Baguio,’ once approved.
One of the objectives of the ordinance is to create the Baguio City AIDS Coordinating Council (BCACC) tasked to unify the local government of Baguio, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), faith-based/youth/women organizations, the academe, and the business sector in an effort to promote healthy and non-risky sexual behaviors and work for the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the city.
Brillantes admitted that the Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) under the City Health Services Office (CHSO), having only three personnel at present, cannot keep up with all the workload. She said having an HIV/AIDS coordinating council will create a network that will unify the city government with the different sectors in order to effectively combat the rise of HIV/AIDS cases in the city.
Furthermore, through the coordinating council, the RHWC will be able to consolidate all the HIV/AIDS data in the city from the different medical institutions. The consolidated data will, in turn, help the RHWC to adequately determine the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the city.
The Health Officer, likewise, emphasized that the HIV/AIDS epidemic does not only affect the health of people in the community, but it also impacts their sociocultural and economic conditions; thus, the need for a coordinating council composed of members from various agencies, offices, and organizations.
“We need to put all our resources together to be able to fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. If we could not get help from outside the city government, our HIV/AIDS program would collapse. Consequently, we would see a lot of cases coming in and out of our RHWC,” she stressed.
Under the proposed ordinance, among the primary functions of the HIV/AIDS coordinating council are providing necessary policy recommendations to the Baguio City Council for the effective and efficient implementation of prevention programs; and engaging in advocacy work geared towards the promotion of educational activities for the prevention of STIs/HIV/AIDs in the city.
Aside from the creation of the coordinating council, other proposed services, programs, and activities under the ordinance are the conduct of awareness seminars; creation of IEC education modules to be distributed to schools, workplaces, and barangays; availability and accessibility of prophylactics at the CHSO; workplace policy and education program; designation of HIV/AIDS safe spaces in entertainment establishments; annual AIDS candle lighting ceremony; voluntary HIV testing; compilation of roster of entertainers/employees working in entertainment establishments/ social/community mobilization; monitoring programs; and declaration of AIDS Awareness Month, among others.
Once enacted, the ordinance shall also mandate the operators, managers, and employees of entertainment establishments to attend seminars on HIV/AIDS prevention conducted by the CHSO, BCACC, or CSOs accredited by the city government. Attendance to these seminars shall be a prerequisite for the issuance/renewal of an entertainment establishment’s permit to operate.
One equally essential component of the proposed measure is the protection of the rights of people living with HIV. The referral system of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and network shall be adopted to eliminate HIV-related stigma and discrimination and promote confidentiality.
At present, the proposed ordinance is undergoing revision to take into consideration the comments and recommendations given by the members of the Baguio City Council. **Jordan G. Habbiling
