Almost all Filipino women in the MIMAROPA Region have heard of HIV or AIDS  

In the 2022 NDHS, women age 15 to 49 years in the MIMAROPA Region were asked if they had ever heard of an illness called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). There was a 2.3-percentage point increase of women who have heard of HIV or AIDS from the 91.3 percent of women who have heard of HIV or AIDS in 2017.

Figure 1. Percentage of Women Age 15 to 49 who have heard of HIV or AIDS,
MIMAROPA: 2017 and 2022

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2017 and 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey

Six in ten women age 15 to 49 hold discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV

Six in ten women age 15 to 49 (63.2%) hold discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV. Specifically, 47.4 percent of women do not think that children living with HIV should be able to attend school with children who are HIV negative, and 50.9 percent would not buy fresh vegetables from a shopkeeper who has HIV. (Figure 2)

In addition, women age 15 to 49 have 1.4 lifetime sexual partners on average. Only 3.1 percent of women had sex in the last 12 months with a person who neither was their husband nor lived with them. Among these women, 14.9 percent reported using a condom during their last sexual intercourse with such a partner.

Figure 2: Percentage of Women Age 15 to 49 who do not think that Children Living
with HIV Should be able to Attend School with Children who are HIV
Negative and/or would not buy Fresh Vegetables from a Shopkeeper
who has HIV, MIMAROPA: 2022

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey

Seven percent of women age 15 to 49 have experience with prior HIV testing

About 93 percent of women age 15 to 49 have never tested for HIV (includes respondents who have not heard of HIV or who refused to answer questions on testing). Only 6.6 percent of women age 15 to 49 have ever been tested for HIV and received the results of their last test, while 0.8 percent have been tested but did not receive the results of their last test.

Figure 3. Percent Distribution of Women Age 15 to 49 by HIV Testing Status and
by Whether they Received the Results of the Last Test, MIMAROPA: 2022

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey

Ten percent of women age 15 to 49 who ever had sexual intercourse have self-report Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) or Symptoms in the last 12 months

Among women in the MIMAROPA Region age 15 to 49 who had ever had sex, 10.3 percent reported having a Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) or symptoms of an STI in the last 12 months. Also, 8.9 percent of women reported a bad smelling/abnormal genital discharge, while 2.9 percent reported a genital sore or ulcer. Only 0.6 percent of women reported that they had an STI.

Figure 4. Percentage of Women Age 15 to 49 who reported having in the past 12
months, MIMAROPA: 2022

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey

One in four young women are knowledgeable about HIV prevention

Seventy-eight percent of women age 15 to 24 know that limiting sexual intercourse to one uninfected partner can reduce the likelihood of contracting HIV, 72.4 percent know that a healthy-looking person can have HIV, 64.3 percent know that HIV cannot be spread by mosquito bites, 61.7 percent know that consistent condom use is a means to prevent the spread of HIV, and 44.6 percent know that a person cannot get HIV by sharing food with an infected person. Overall, only one in four young women (25%) are knowledgeable about HIV prevention.

Figure 5. Percentage of Women Age 15 to 24 with Specified Knowledge about HIV

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey

TECHNICAL NOTES

The 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is the seventh Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in the Philippines in collaboration with the worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program and the 12th in a series of national DHS surveys conducted every five (5) years since 1968.

Funding for the 2022 NDHS was provided by the Government of the Philippines, while the provision of tablet computers for data collection was supported by the Commission on Population and Development (CPD). Other agencies and organizations that facilitated the successful implementation of the survey through technical support were the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The primary objective of the 2022 NDHS is to provide up-to-date estimates of basic demographic and health indicators. Specifically, the NDHS collected information on fertility, fertility preferences, family planning practices, childhood mortality, maternal and child health, nutrition, knowledge and attitudes regarding Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), violence against women, child discipline, early childhood development, and other health issues.

The Women’s Questionnaire collected information on general background characteristics including age, education, and household wealth status, for women age 15 to 49. In addition, the 2022 NDHS collected information on other measures of women’s autonomy and status, particularly women’s ownership of assets including houses, land, and mobile phones as well as their use of bank accounts and mobile-money-service providers. In addition, responses to specific questions are used to define three different indicators of women’s empowerment such as women’s participation in household decision making, women’s attitudes towards wife beating, and women’s participation in decision making regarding sexual and reproductive health.

The information collected through the NDHS is intended to assist policymakers and program managers in designing and evaluating programs and strategies for improving the health of the country’s population. The 2022 NDHS also provides indicators anchored to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the new Philippine Development Plan for 2023 to 2028.

(SGD) LENI R. RIOFLORIDO
Regional Director

MLLM/JPR