Davao City to zero in on awareness, treatment of STD

DAVAO CITY (PNA) – Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has vowed to prioritize the health and well-being of Dabawenyos as she outlined 10 priority areas in her administration’s health agenda.

Carpio took note of the various health programs established by the city government, among these the establishment of the Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC). The center is handling cases of Sexually Transmitted Infections, including HIV and AIDS.

“The RHWC has been established as one of the treatment hubs in the country for People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV),” she said during her State of the City Address (Soca).

Last March, the local government through the RHWC supported the conduct of #SaveSexy in Davao - an awareness campaign on the HIVAIDS.

The establishment of the RHWC is the second HIV-AIDS treatment facility in the city. The other facility is in the Southern Philippines Medical Center.

With the RHWC, the City Health Office has become very active in addressing reproductive health and HIV issues in support of the country’s national response to HIV-AIDS.

The prevalence of HIV-AIDS in the city has installed it in the Top 5 in the list of the country’s areas with the most number of reported cases from January 1984 to February 2016.

From January to June this year alone, a total of 524 people have been diagnosed with HIV. Of the number, 49 percent or 259 undergo treatment at the RHWC.

The RHWC was also chosen to become a pilot testing site for rHIVda (Rapid HIV Diagnostic Algorithm), even as hospitals continued to use the western blot as confirmatory test for HIV.

Under the western blot system, the sample would be processed at the STD AIDS Cooperative Center Laboratory (SACCL) in Manila and it usually takes more than three weeks for the results to be known.