3 days ago
DepEd, DOH aligns curriculum to address HIV spike among Filipino youth
With enrollees reaching 7,222 students at 7 a.m. on Monday, June 16, 2025, the first day of School Year 2025-2026, Tenement Elementary School in Taguig City had to use temporary partitions to divide classrooms for pupils. SHERYLIN UNTALAN/GMA Integrated News
The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Health (DOH) have collaborated to prepare an aligned curriculum for Filipino learners with the goal of addressing the rise in HIV cases and other critical issues affecting the youth.
"Nag-align kami ng curriculum dahil ang findings namin, mas bata ang tinatamaan ng HIV (We aligned the curriculum because our findings show HIV infections among younger Filipinos)," said Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa during a joint field assessment with Education Secretary Sonny Angara on Wednesday.
Filipinos aged 15 to 24 now account for 30% of the 57 new daily infections in the country, DOH data from January to March 2025 showed. At the basic education level, this age group overlaps with junior high school learners in Grade 10 and senior high school students from Grades 11 to 12.
The cooperation of the two agencies is in line with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s directive to strengthen inter-agency efforts for student health, particularly as classes reopen for School Year 2025–2026.
Read: Cover Story | Overcoming HIV: Hope Rises Between Two Red Lines
"Pinapriority talaga ni Pangulo ang edukasyon... instruction niya na magsama-sama ang mga ahensya para yung pagbukas ng klase, kalusugan ng ating mga anak at pati na rin ng ating mga guro ay inaalagaan po ng gobyerno," Angara said.
(The President prioritizes education... his instruction is that agencies work together for the opening of classes.)
Nutrition, pregnancy, road safety
Aside from HIV education, the curriculum now also integrates discussions key health issues on mental health, unplanned pregnancy, road safety, and nutrition.
Herbosa noted that these health concerns may also be contributing to the broader learning crisis observed in the country.
"Some of it is the cause of learning crisis," he said, adding that, "Some of it is stunting because of undernutrition… Pumapasok, walang pagkain (They come to school without food)."
In response, the DepEd has expanded its school feeding program to provide meals not just for undernourished students, but to all young learners at the entry level.
The DepEd and DOH are also monitoring and responding to potential health outbreaks in schools, especially with the onset of the rainy season.
"[Kung] May clustering of cases sa isang school, pinupuntahan ng aming regional office kaagad 'yan (Our regional offices immediately go to areas where there are clustering of health cases)," Herbosa added.
As cases of HIV and other diseases continue to climb, both agencies reaffirmed their commitment to protecting students not just academically, but physically and emotionally as well.
"Tutukan talaga 'yung kalusugan ng mga bata (Focus will be on children's health)," Angara said.
Earlier this moth, the DOH reported that the number of young Filipinos infected with human immunodeficiency virus has increased by 500% prompting the agency to request for the declaration of a national public health emergency for HIV.
Herbosa had expressed concern that if the trend is not be stopped, the number of people in the Philippines living with HIV could reach 400,000.
Based on available figures as of June 2025, there are 148,831 cases of HIV in the Philippines.
The DOH earlier said that in the first three months of the 2025, a total of 5,101 HIV cases were confirmed. This was higher than the 3,409 confirmed cases the same period in 2024. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
HIV, AIDS, HIV infections, DOH, DepEd, school opening
