Philippines: AIDS education is important for OFWs

One out of every four Filipinos diagnosed HIV positive is an overseas Filipino worker (OFW).

A total of 1,501 overseas Filipino workers have tested HIV positive, and they now comprise 26 per cent of the 5,729 reported cases in the National AIDS Registry as of the end of October, according to data reaching the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

This is very unfortunate, because if we look closely at the median age of HIV positive OFWs, 36 years old, they are at the prime of their lives and productivity.

About 96 per cent of the HIV positive OFWs were infected through sexual contact.

This underscores the need for government to aggressively encourage safe sex through the use of male and female condoms.

OFWs are particularly vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases because they are exposed to foreign cultures that tend to abet high-risk behavior, including casual sex.

Filipino sailors are exceptionally susceptible, after spending lengthy periods at sea.

Sailors are often deluged by commercial sex workers at their foreign ports of call, and they have the money to pay for the services.

TUCP’s member federations include the Philippine Seafarers’ Union.

Of the HIV positive OFWs, 75 per cent or 1,127 are male.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration should include AIDS preventive education in the free seminars for departing workers.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration should invest in activities that raise AIDS awareness among OFWs and their families here.

In the local labor front, Congress should mandate the inclusion of AIDS prevention education in all bargaining contracts between management and union.

TUCP earlier backed President Benigno Aquino III’s pro-choice family planning policy, calling it “a courageous demonstration of political leadership,” amid strong resistance from Catholic Church officials.

We are absolutely behind the President’s decision (for government) to provide condoms and other modern contraceptives to couples who would prefer to limit their number of children and avoid unplanned pregnancies. This is a fair and sensible approach to human development and population management.

TUCP is also pushing for the inclusion of family planning and reproductive health clinics and services at the workplace in every bargaining contract between union and management. –E Herrera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 January 2011