Agents of Behavioral change: Red Cross youth scales up on HIV and AIDS prevention using Youth Peer Education Approach. The Philippines is currently one of the seven countries where new cases of HIV infections have been on the rise. In the latest Department of Health report, the cases have increased to 50 percent, with 804 cases reported in January 2016 alone. 97 percent of the January 2016 was from the men having sex with men (MSM) population. The statistics indicate that 27 Filipinos are getting infected every day, and 7 of them are from the MSM group. The Philippine Red Cross has been active as peer educators. Volunteers, once a month, from 9 pm until the wee hour of the morning, they visit these hotspots, armed with boxes of condoms and education, information and communication materials. 

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As the age range of HIV cases gets younger in the country, various institutions, organizations, local government units, individuals and volunteers are scaling up its efforts to cultivate and maintain a behavioral change towards HIV and AIDS prevention. With a population of two million people, Quezon City is boosting its action plans for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention through its Service Delivery Network (SDN) to provide a comprehensive package of health and non-health related services to persons living with HIV. The Philippine Red Cross’ Quezon City chapter has been an active member since the service Delivery Network was launched in 2013. As of 2015, there are 37,732 HIV and AIDS Prevention and Education (HAPE) youth peer educators in the Red Cross. Through various activities, trained peer educators from the Quezon City chapter Red Cross Youth (RCY) council conduct HIV awareness seminars in the city’s high schools. These activities also target high-risk groups such as out-of-school youth, young commercial sex workers and the MSM population.  For their sundown HAPE activity, trained RCY peer educators coordinate with other members of the Quezon city SDN and bar owners catering to the MSM. The network usually takes advantage of big events. Most of the RCY peer educators are in their late teens. Once a month, from 9 pm until the wee hours of the morning, the youths visit these hotspots, armed with boxes of condoms and education, information, and communication materials. The groups are supervised by a senior RCY member or by community health volunteers.

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The Department of Health (DOH) recently reported that 38 new cases of HIV were recorded on a daily basis in 2019, a significant rise from the 32-per-day rate in 2018. (Story by MaryJoy.Evalarosa/International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies)