About 28 percent of young Filipinos think that acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by HIV is a curable disease.
This was revealed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) office in Manila on Thursday during the launch of “The Power of You,” a video campaign that encourages young people to educate themselves and their peers about HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
The interactive video allows users to choose the path that the main characters (Francis and Sarah) will take through decision points of a normal teenager’s life.
The figure cited by Unicef was based on the 2003 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey which also showed that 73 percent of young Filipinos thought that they are immune to contracting HIV/AIDS. The survey also revealed that the overall prevalence of sexual activity among young Filipino adults increased from 18 percent in 1994 to 23 percent in 2002.
The Department of Health earlier reported that the Philippines is witnessing an increase of new HIV/AIDS cases as never before, with reported infections among 15 to 24 year old Filipinos reaching 218 in 2009 from a mere 41 in 2007. The 2009 figure is five times larger than the 2007 data.
Unicef Representative Vanessa Tobin said that the situation can be abated if the presentation of information, such as the Power of You, is done among young people in a fun and interactive light.
“It motivates them to choose life-saving actions and focuses on the power of individual choice to make their dreams and ambitions come true,” Tobin pointed out.
Under the Power of You campaign, a trained facilitator will guide the students in “Choosing the Life” of a teenager. The main characters in the video will then experience significant situations that require critical decisions. Afterward, the students will be asked to decide the fate of the main characters.
Each choice will result in a new situation and the facilitator will give appropriate information bits after each decision.
The Power of You campaign will initially be implemented in 29 public schools in the National Capital Region (Metro Manila), Cebu, Davao, Zamboanga, Olongapo and Masbate. It aims to reach at least 12,000 high-school students in 2010. –(The Manila Times – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX
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