A LABOR group expressed alarm over the growing number of Filipinos infected with the deadly Human Immune Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome as it urged the government to execute a nationwide information program to fight the disease.
Associated Labor Unions national youth committee secretary general Jay Seno said that young union members from various industry sectors took a step forward by equipping themselves against the rising social menace.
The number of cases reported is increasing in recent years with a case per day in 2006 to 21 cases a day in March 2015.
“Most of those infected are in the median age of 27 and the youngest is 14 years old with infection grew more than tenfold from 44 in 2006 to 995 in 2015 records from National Epidemiology Center of the Department of Health show,” Seno said.
“It is indeed a cause of concern for many of us but we cannot afford to stand by and do nothing. We will band together to strengthen our thoughts in making the right choices by knowing what we are against. By knowing it within ourselves and sharing that information about HIV and AIDS to others now, we believe we are making a deterrent action against the increasing threat to our future,” Seno said.
The group asked the government to launch an effective information program to stop the spread of the deadly HIV and AIDS.
Young unionists from ALU’s transport, construction, banking, manufacturing textile, mining, food processing and electronics industries participated in a seminar with members from Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc., Pinoy Plus Advocates and ALU National Committee on Women, Department of Labor and Employment-Occupational Safety and Health Center organized by the Philippine National AIDS Council in a hotel in Quezon City.
The event provided understanding about information, prevention, treatment and the legal aspects about HIV and AIDS.