The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) conducted the first city-wide training of trainers for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) awareness and Reproductive Health education on November 8.
The training was participated in by social workers from the 15 administrative districts of CSWDO along with representatives from the Pag-asa Youth Association Program (PYAP).
The training intends to equip direct service implementers (DSI) and the youth sector with sufficient knowledge on how to handle cases of HIV and provide proper interventions to people living with HIV.
“Para ma-equip og knowledge ang atoang mga youth sa community how to handle these cases para pud ang atoang mga DSI makahatag sila og thorough intervention when it comes to people living with HIV (This is also to equip the youth in the community with proper knowledge on how to handle these cases as well as to ensure that our direct service implementers will be able to provide the right interventions to people living with HIV),” Sharlene Blas Villaluz, CSWDO’s Child and Youth Welfare Development Program Focal Person, said in an interview.
The training also intends to raise awareness as well as to put an end to stigma and discrimination that a lot of people living with HIV are experiencing.
Villaluz added that although this was the first city-wide trainers’ training, the CSWDO has been conducting barangay-level trainings every year to cascade the information within the communities.
The importance of informing the public on the specifics of the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act or the Republic Act No. 11166 as well as incorporating it in HIV response was emphasized in the training.
“Nagapaningkamot ta kauban ang atoang mga HIV partners dinhi sa atoang dakbayan nga maabot ang maong mga information sa communities para sila pud mismo makahibalo nga aduna’y balaod nga nagahatag proteksyon kanila ilabi na sa mga HIV-related nga mga diskriminasyon ug uban pang pagpang-abuso (Along with our HIV partners, we are doing our best to disseminate these information to the communities so that they aware that there are laws protecting their rights against HIV-related discrimination and other forms of abuse),” Philip Tagap, one of the speakers during the training, said. CIO
