Choose self-control, shun birth control – youth

MANILA, July 19, 2011―A student from the University of the Philippines, a school long regarded as among those going with the flow when it comes to support for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, gave a hopeful picture of how much young people are capable of understanding.

John Juat, a member of the group UP Against the RH Bill, saw through the supposedly good intentions of the RH bill, citing the dangers that the P3 billion-a-year measure posed on the youth.

What’s wrong with birth control?

Focusing on taxpayer-funded distribution and procurement of birth control supplies, he said that “the youth are in danger of accepting the idea that it is responsible to use contraceptives, when it is clear that by using these, we go against the real design of sex which is for intimacy of the couple and openness to life.”

The bill also misleads young people into “believing that contraceptives are safe, when there are more than 60 documented side-effects of contraceptives. The youth are in danger of thinking that contraceptives will protect us from different STDs, when the only real solution is chastity and self-control,” pointed out the 21-year-old, who was among the students who took part in the July 1 silent protest against the RH bill in UP Diliman.

Confusing love with lust

Juat added that a birth control measure will make it even more difficult for the youth to recognize love and to differentiate it from lust.

“Contraceptives degrade the dignity of a person, making that person a mere object of pleasure and making sex selfish rather than self-giving. Contraceptives will make men predators rather than protectors of women, and women objects rather than persons,” he lamented.

The solutions to the country’s problem lie in proper allocation of funds and in strengthening our values, he said.

“We are a nation that is pro-life, pro-family, and pro-God. We must be strong in these values…and every law made should be for the common good. As a youth and as a concerned citizen who loves our country dearly, I know that the RH bill will only make our country’s problems worse.

“Let us not sacrifice morality for money. Let us instead work on reviving our Filipino values, protecting the family and valuing life,” Juat concluded.

Juat was one of the panelists at the press conference held by the Interfaith Pro-Life Coalition, which has issued a call for moral recovery and threw its support behind the government’s fight against all forms of corruption.

The group—composed of Catholics, Baptists, evangelical Christians and Muslims–is leading a “Congress of the Faithful” on July 25 to manifest the people’s perspective on the real state of the nation. (CBCP for Life)

DOH traces the cause of 112 dengue cases in Dingalan

DINGALAN, Aurora, July 19, 2011-The Department of Health (DOH) is now trying to trace the cause of dengue cases that hit this town where Mayor Zenaida Padiernos and other officials declared the whole town under the state of emergency.

Padiernos said that the DOH is now tracking the exact mosquitos breeding place along the barangays of Paltic, Aplaya and Poblacion after the 112 kids have become the victims of dengue in the last two weeks.

“The municipal government is now conducting fogging operations in the affected areas and also now using their 5% calamity fund for the immediate assistance to the villagers although the fund is only more than 600 thousand pesos,” Padiernos said. “We also conducted information dissemination regarding the disease,” she added.  

Municipal Social Welfare Development Officer and concurrent Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council Action Officer Maria Edwina Miranda said that cleaning and fogging operation are being done to prevent and to control dengue in her town, adding that the victims’ financial assistance were given to them by the local government unit.

“Our barangay officials are also in the process of giving pamphlets, leaflets and other important information materials to fight dengue,” Miranda said.

Dingalan Community Hospital Chief Julie Ann Mandapat revealed that dengue fever otherwise known as break bone fever is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.

She said that dengue symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.

Fogging operation at Brgy. Paltic, Dingalan.
(Photo Courtesy: Ronald Leander, GMA7) 

In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting to bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.

Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the Aedes genus, principally aegypti.

In her briefings, she said that the virus has four different types; infection with one type usually gives lifelong immunity to that type, but only short-term immunity to the others. Subsequent infection with a different type increases the risk of severe complications. As there is no vaccine, prevention is sought by reducing the habitat and the number of mosquitoes and limiting exposure to bites.

Treatment of acute dengue is supportive, using either oral or intravenous rehydration for mild or moderate disease, and intravenous fluids and blood transfusion for more severe cases. (Jason de Asis)