Are young people in the Philippines taking chances with HIV/AIDS?


 

Publication Date: January 1997

Publisher: East-West Center

Author(s): Deborah Balk

Research Area: Health; Social conditions

Type: Brief

Coverage: Philippines

Abstract:

A national Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS-II), conducted in 1994, contributes to the information available on risk factors that could produce a serious HIV/AIDS epidemic among young people in the Philippines. A substantial minority of young men (age 15 to 24) reported premarital and extramarital sexual activity, including visits to commercial sex workers. This activity, combined with extremely low levels of condom use, puts young men at a heightened risk of HIV infection. Young women, who appear to be taking fewer chances, are primarily at risk through the premarital and extramarital activities of their sexual partners.