Un Alarmed By Surge In Hiv Cases Among Rp Youth

[Mr Lee]

What do you think are the contributing causes of this? MANILA, Philippines—Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases among the youth in the Philippines "have been increasing at an unprecedented rate," the United Nations representative office in Manila has warned.According to a UN report furnished the INQUIRER, "HIV cases among the 15-24 age group nearly tripled from 41 in 2007 to 110 in 2008."Read the complete story here

Edited November 20, 2009 by Mr. Lee

[tropicalwaste]

What do you think are the contributing causes of this? MANILA, Philippines

[Mr Lee]

What do you think are the contributing causes of this? MANILA, Philippines

[TheMason]

There could be three major factors :-1. Previous information how accurate is it?2. Catholic religion preaching against the use of a condom.3. Drug abuse, needle sharing etc.

The Church also preaches against having sex outside of marriage and drug abuse, yet people still do it. If Catholics followed Church teaching AIDS would be nearly nonexistent. If Catholics selectively follow Church teachings that is their personal failing, not the Church's. I think it is fair to criticize the Church for influencing public policy to block sex education and family planning for non-Catholics though. I think those things should be available to those that want them.

and maybe more promiscuity

If the survey covered a broader time range I would agree with increased promiscuity as a possible cause but the tripling in cases is when comparing 2008 to 2007. I doubt the promiscuity of people has changed that much in 1 year. I never trust any statistics that come from the RP govt. I don't think they have good tracking systems in place and they're more than willing to massage the data to suit their needs.

[Guardian]

Could it be that there was never wide spread testing for STD's in the past? I read so much about all the bar fines that are happening there and where there is prostitution by any name, there is large amounts of STD's. Sex education would help and the churches refusal to allow birth control has to be adding to the problem since locals are probably ashamed to buy prophylactics in public places.

[tropicalwaste]

Wasnt it also reported this week that AIDS has stopped increasing worldwide? Just goes to show data is only as good as the people who are trusted with it.

[TheMason]

Could it be that there was never wide spread testing for STD's in the past? I read so much about all the bar fines that are happening there and where there is prostitution by any name, there is large amounts of STD's. Sex education would help and the churches refusal to allow birth control has to be adding to the problem since locals are probably ashamed to buy prophylactics in public places.

I don't know what that is supposed to mean. Condoms are for sale in every 7-11 and many sari-saris. Every health clinic/hospital I've ever been to offers many methods of birth control. It is a myth that birth control is not available in the Philippines. Affordability may be an issue but availability is not.While we're discussing altering basic teachings of faith to solve the population control problem, maybe the Church should drop "Thou shalt not kill" from their teachings and encourage people to kill the excess population. Why take half-measures and stop with birth control?

[Guardian]

Could it be that there was never wide spread testing for STD's in the past? I read so much about all the bar fines that are happening there and where there is prostitution by any name, there is large amounts of STD's. Sex education would help and the churches refusal to allow birth control has to be adding to the problem since locals are probably ashamed to buy prophylactics in public places.

I don't know what that is supposed to mean. Condoms are for sale in every 7-11 and many sari-saris. Every health clinic/hospital I've ever been to offers many methods of birth control. It is a myth that birth control is not available in the Philippines. Affordability may be an issue but availability is not.While we're discussing altering basic teachings of faith to solve the population control problem, maybe the Church should drop "Thou shalt not kill" from their teachings and encourage people to kill the excess population. Why take half-measures and stop with birth control?

Wow, I seem to have hit a raw nerve. Birth control is not the same as abortion so I think your comments are uncalled for and you must have the two confused. Maybe you read the intent of my post wrong. Abortion might be considered murder but killing people is insane, unless they deserve killing in the name of self defense. :SugarwareZ-034: What I was talking about is the churches stand on birth control so while the items may be available, people are probably ashamed to buy them because they do not wish to be judged by their fellow Filipinos in the stores they have to buy them from. Maybe you know better because you are actually there and I am just reading forums and the news but your Thou shall not kill comment is over the top IMO and you may be more burnt out on the Philippines than you think you are.

[TheMason]

Wow, I seem to have hit a raw nerve. Birth control is not the same as abortion so I think your comments are uncalled for and you must have the two confused. Maybe you read the intent of my post wrong. Abortion might be considered murder but killing people is insane, unless they deserve killing in the name of self defense. :SugarwareZ-034: What I was talking about is the churches stand on birth control so while the items may be available, people are probably ashamed to buy them because they do not wish to be judged by their fellow Filipinos in the stores they have to buy them from. Maybe you know better because you are actually there and I am just reading forums and the news but your Thou shall not kill comment is over the top IMO and you may be more burnt out on the Philippines than you think you are.

My statement was deliberately over the top to illustrate my point. I don't think the Church or its teachings are primary causes for the population problems. I think the Church gets a disproportionate amount of blame for the population problems. There are many other predominantly Catholic countries where the birth rate is not out of control and population growth is not an issue. If you're talking about the Philippines alone, the birth rate in Mindanao is the highest in the country, yet that area has a far larger percentage of non-Catholics in it. The Philippines overall birth rate per 1000 is 22.8. Northern Mindanao is at 26.5 and The Autonomous Muslim region of Mindanao is at 32.2. (source: Philippines 2000 census)If the Church teachings are a significant factor in overpopulation, why does the birth rate go up as the percentage of Catholic's decreases?If the Church teachings are a significant factor in overpopulation, why don't Ireland, Italy, and Mexico have out of control population growth? They are also predominantly Catholic nations, shouldn't they have sky-high population growth as well? (Birth rates for Italy, Ireland, and Mexico are 8.36, 14.33, and 20.04, respectively source: CIA Factbook)India's birth rate is 22.22 and their sure aren't too many Catholics in that country. What is the driver there if not the Church? (CIA Factbook)The nerve you hit is the one that is tired of knee-jerk, ill-informed responses blaming the Church for the social ills of the Philippines.Poverty is the primary driver of population growth. If you can decrease the number of people in poverty the birth rate declines as well. The problem in the Philippines is that poverty is increasing, not decreasing. Rather than altering the faith of the population, the solution lies in finding ways to leverage the Church's belief in charity and community to solve the poverty problem. Rather than bashing the Church for its teachings, figure out how to harness its strengths. Unfortunately, the politicos are not too interested in helping the poor of this country. Until that changes, poverty and population will continue to spiral out of control regardless of Church teachings. Edited December 1, 2009 by TheMason

[Guardian]

Wow, I seem to have hit a raw nerve. Birth control is not the same as abortion so I think your comments are uncalled for and you must have the two confused. Maybe you read the intent of my post wrong. Abortion might be considered murder but killing people is insane, unless they deserve killing in the name of self defense. :yes: What I was talking about is the churches stand on birth control so while the items may be available, people are probably ashamed to buy them because they do not wish to be judged by their fellow Filipinos in the stores they have to buy them from. Maybe you know better because you are actually there and I am just reading forums and the news but your Thou shall not kill comment is over the top IMO and you may be more burnt out on the Philippines than you think you are.

My statement was deliberately over the top to illustrate my point. I don't think the Church or its teachings are primary causes for the population problems. I think the Church gets a disproportionate amount of blame for the population problems. There are many other predominantly Catholic countries where the birth rate is not out of control and population growth is not an issue. If you're talking about the Philippines alone, the birth rate in Mindanao is the highest in the country, yet that area has a far larger percentage of non-Catholics in it. The Philippines overall birth rate per 1000 is 22.8. Northern Mindanao is at 26.5 and The Autonomous Muslim region of Mindanao is at 32.2. (source: Philippines 2000 census)If the Church teachings are a significant factor in overpopulation, why does the birth rate go up as the percentage of Catholic's decreases?If the Church teachings are a significant factor in overpopulation, why don't Ireland, Italy, and Mexico have out of control population growth? They are also predominantly Catholic nations, shouldn't they have sky-high population growth as well? (Birth rates for Italy, Ireland, and Mexico are 8.36, 14.33, and 20.04, respectively source: CIA Factbook)India's birth rate is 22.22 and their sure aren't too many Catholics in that country. What is the driver there if not the Church? (CIA Factbook)The nerve you hit is the one that is tired of knee-jerk, ill-informed responses blaming the Church for the social ills of the Philippines.Poverty is the primary driver of population growth. If you can decrease the number of people in poverty the birth rate declines as well. The problem in the Philippines is that poverty is increasing, not decreasing. Rather than altering the faith of the population, the solution lies in finding ways to leverage the Church's belief in charity and community to solve the poverty problem. Rather than bashing the Church for its teachings, figure out how to harness its strengths. Unfortunately, the politicos are not too interested in helping the poor of this country. Until that changes, poverty and population will continue to spiral out of control regardless of Church teachings.

I do not think you are getting my point, Filipinos seem to be overly religious and almost all that I have communicated with keep talking about Gods will or God brought us together and they make a point of telling me that they go to church a few time a week. While I do believe that some in some other countries may also take religion to the extreme, I do not think that they seem to take it to the extreme that most Filipinos I met or read about seem to, and especially the poor ones who live in the Philippines and would most likely be more ashamed to buy condoms or go against what the church says when compared to some of those countries you mentioned. I guess I will find out first hand soon enough but even in the US some Catholics that take their religion to the extreme seem to have way too many kids compared to what they can afford and their kids suffer because of their refusal to use protection to limit the amount of their children. We all know there is Gods will and then there is what we can control on our own in our lives and I do not think the Church should tell us to not do the things that might make our lives better and poor people sure do not need so many mouths to feed and no one should take the chances of getting AIDS by having unprotected sex until they really know who they are having that sex with.