Palawan currently has 250 diagnosed cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as of December 2022, with 26 having registered in El Nido, a report from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) stated.
Because of this, on Wednesday, February 15, representatives from POH, Department of Health (DOH), Center for Health Development (CHD) – MIMAROPA conducted HIV 101 and HIV Testing forum among the students of Palawan State University (PSU) El Nido Campus.
The event aims to educate teenagers about HIV and equip them with enough knowledge on how to avoid getting infected.
The attendees also underwent an HIV test themselves.
This comes a day after a Mobile Health and Wellness Services (MHWS) CaraVan was turned over to the Palawan Government by the Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc., and DOH.
To cover more barangays, the mobile health van will be used to reach more communities around El Nido and other towns of Palawan through its TB-HIV monitoring services.