NYC: 48% Filipino youth not aware of HIV-AIDS

By Carlito Dar

BAGUIO CITY - - A study by the National Youth Commission showed  24.6 percent  or one in every 4 Filipino youth have children,  13.8%  married, 31%  had engaged in sex and 48% are not aware of HIV/AIDS , this this can be acquired by their risky sexual behavior.

NYC Commissioner for Luzon Percival Cendaña bared this citing importance of making the youth aware of risky sexual behavior, reproductive health,  education, labor and employment,  vices and mental health.

Cendaña bared this here during Philippine Youth Development Plan 2017 – 2022 regional consultation here last week where he presented the 2015 national youth assessment study (NYAS).

In terms of education, based on the NYAS, among the youth aged 15 to 24, 24.2% are out-of-school youth and 65% of them want to go back to school but they cannot due to various reasons.

For employment, concerns are mainly on lack of better opportunities with 33.8% of those working are only in part – time job. Child labor is also a concern with 7.4% of the youth (15 to 17 years old) already working.

In terms of vices which cut across on health, education and employment concern, the 2015 NYAS shows that 21% of young people smoke.  

Mental health is a new issue   revealed in the 2015 NYAS. Cendaña disclosed that 26% of the youth affirmed to have thought at least once that life was not worth living and 14% have considered ending their life though of suicide while 20% affirmed to have undergone extreme emotional distress.

For the PYDP, the NYC is pushing for a multi-sectoral approach in the crafting plans and policies that will address the concerns of the Filipino youth, which why they are doing regional consultations and workshops.

 Solutions on the concerns shown in the NYAS such as drugs, mental health, sexual problems among others, need a multi-layer approach that should include families, communities, schools and the national bureaucracy, Cendaña said.