• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod is requesting Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to convene the HIV/AIDS Council of Bacolod City as per City Ordinance No. 468, or the “Bacolod STI/HIV/AIDS Ordinance.”
The resolution authored by Councilor Claudio Puentevella said that based on City Ordinance No. 468, Series of 2008 or the “Bacolod STI/ HIV/AIDS Ordinance, the composition of the committees are as follows: the City Mayor as chairperson, the City Health Officer as vice- chairperson, and the members – SP chairperson on Women and Gender, chairperson on Committee on Health, Family Childcare and Development, Labor and Management, Women Gender and Health, as well as various departments and offices.
The Bacolod local STI/HIV/AIDS Council will help ensure the efficient and effective delivery of the program and will serve as the advisory monitoring board, it said.
The HIV/AIDS and Art Registry of the Philippines Department of Health |Epidemiology Bureau Average has recorded 39 cases per day from January to April 2022, the resolution said.
As per Department of Health Epidemiology Bureau, HIV/AIDS and Art Registry of the Philippines report dated May 2022, Region VI Western Visayas ranked 3rd with the most number of newly reported cases of HIV transmission, compromising at least 7 percent of the national cases, it said.
The promotion of health and safety is one of the top priority of this new administration, thus, it is high time that the HIV Council should be convened to spearhead the proper planning of education campaigns to help prevent the infection and spread of HIV/AIDS, the resolution added.*
