The Department of Health (DoH) has called on parents to help their children get more informed about the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that has infected over 12,000 young people from 1984 to 2017 in the country.

Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial made the call during the launch of its program dubbed “Healthy Young Ones” which aims to educate the youth, as well as other sectors of the society, about HIV.

“What we are trying to do now is we launched a program iyong ‘Healthy Young Ones’ which is our youth program. It’s focusing on the behavior of young people and how to stay healthy.

Ubial is encouraging parents to bring their children to the nearest DoH facility so they could be more aware of HIV.

If parents cannot discuss with their children matters regarding sexuality, considering the conservative culture in the Philippines, they could seek the help of health professionals, she said.

“If parents are not comfortable about talking to their teenage children, then we ask them also to come to the health facility and the DoH will help them to counsel their children,” she stated.

The Philippines has been tagged as the country with fastest growing HIV epidemic in Asia, according the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS Report. Read more via Tempo