DAVAO CITY—The Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) of Davao City has registered a total of 838 registered prostituted women since January this year.
Gloria Serrano, a nurse at RHWC, said 772 of the registered prostituted women are working various watering holes in the city, while the other 66 are working as “freelancers.”
Twice a month, Serrano said, prostituted women seek the help of the center for pap smear screening and other tests to ensure that they are not suffering from sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Workers of the center go around the city’s watering holes and streets frequented by prostituted women to make sure that they are healthy, encouraging them to go to the center and undergo check-ups.
Prostituted women who go through the required check- up at the center are issued with pink cards, which they can also use to avail of free government health services.
The center, Serrano said, also provides counseling to sex workers as well as medicines to those are suffering from STIs.
The center is under the supervision of the Davao City Health Office.
Among the Top 10 priorities of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte is to ensure that the people of Davao are given appropriate and free health services, particularly the poor communities.
On the latest data of RHWC, they have recorded 1,661 patients who were under the help of the center since 1984 until June of 2016.
