TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Health in coordination with the Philippine National AIDS Council urged the public, especially those engaged in risky multiple sex partners, to undergo HIV/AIDS testing as part of the government’s campaign to prevent diseases.
HIV/AIDS refer to human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
Dr. Chito Avelino, Executive Director of the Philippine National AIDS Council, said HIV cases have increased the past ten years. Avelino said that there is also an increase in HIV cases among young Filipinos.
“Previously, most Filipinos who are infected with HIV are overseas workers, but now, professionals as young as 29 years old are reportedly infected with the virusm,” he said.
In Eastern Visayas, there are at least 151 reported cases of HIV in which 121 are males and 30 are females.
The global AIDS report in 2012 disclosed that the Philippines is one of the nine countries in the world where cases of HIV/AIDS rapidly increased by 35% from 2001 to 2011.
The DOH underscored the need for those who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS to get themselves tested to help curb the epidemic in the country.
While many people are now being tested for the AIDS virus because of increased awareness, many more others resist the testing.
Those at risk of contracting the virus are people who have partners that are infected; men who have unprotected sex with men, and those who engage in unprotected hetero-sexual sex.
The next problem is when those who were diagnosed with HIV virus do not want to avail of the free anti-retroviral therapy by the DOH. The stigma is still the primary reason why infected individuals do not want to go to treatment hubs.
From 1984 to June 2012, the DOH had registered a total of 9,964 HIV cases including 1,061 AIDS and 353 deaths in the country. New data are not immediately available. (With a report from Consuelo Alarcon)
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