Philippines has the fastest growing HIV infections in Asia

According to the reports of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS or UNAIDS, the Philippines has become the fastest growing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic in Asia.

The UNAIDS reports that there is a 140% increase new cases from the 2010-2016 with an estimated no. of new infections of 4,300. According to the report, the annual no. of new infections in the region of Asia-Pacific decrease by 13% in over the same period.

The director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team, Eamonn Murphy said in a statement that,

“the Philippines has a small window of opportunity to act now and stop a major HIV epidemic from taking hold.”

Murphy seeks attention from the government to focus on giving efforts in anti-HIV and to those at risk.

Former Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said in a press conference last August 2, citing the latest data from the UNAIDS Report on global HIV epidemic states.

"The Philippines has become the country with the fastest growing HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific, and has become one of 8 countries that account for more than 85% of new HIV infections in the region,” said Ubial.

Ubial indicated that the 85 % of new HIV cases in the Philippines are among males who have sex with males, referring to as MSMs.

Genesis Samonte, chief of the DOH’s Public Health Surveillance department, pointed out that it does not only cover gay men.

"Now let me clarify: We're not talking about those that are openly gay. What we're saying is any male who has sex with another male for whatever reason, is at risk for getting HIV based on our data," said Samonte.

From the latest report of HIV/Aids and ART Registry of the Philippines (HARP), the no. of HIV cases in the Philippines continually increased by accumulating 1,031 cases with a total of 29 reported deaths in June 2017 alarmed the people.

The dominant cases (93%) were males with the median age of 27 years old, half of the cases were in the age group of 25-34 years old and the 32% were the youth in the ages of 15-24 years old.

According to the HARP, the regions with larger cases were from National Capital Region (NCR) with 360 (36%) cases, Region 4A with 173 (17%) cases, Region 3 with 114 (11%) cases, Region 7 with 85 (8%) cases and Regions 6 and 12 with both 44 (4%) cases and 193 cases (19%) came from the rest of the country.

From the previous year, HARP reported that there is a rapid increase of new cases of HIV in the country accumulating 2,291 no. of cases from the period of January to March 2016. There is total no. of 145 reported deaths in the same period.

The highest numbers of cases reported in March 2016 were under these regions: National Capital Region (NCR) with 284 (39%) cases, Region 4A with 94 (13%) cases, Region 3 with 82 (11%) cases, Region 7 with 71 (10%) cases, and Region 11 with 65 (9%) cases. In one hundred forty (19%) cases came from the rest of the country, according to HARP.

The age group having the biggest percentage has become younger in the year 2001-2005, it was 35-49 years old and in the starting period of 2006-2016, it was 25-34 years old. Notably, the proportion of HIV cases in the 15-24 year age group increased from 25% in 2006-2010 to 28% in 2011-2016.

World AIDS Day takes place in the Philippines

The Philippines joined the annual celebration of World AIDS Day event to commemorate the memories of the HIV and AIDS victims who lost their fight to the diseases last December 1.

With the theme of “Right to health,” the said event is devoted to promote awareness and responsiveness to the AIDS contagion caused by the diffusion of HIV infection.

Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day. The campaign focuses of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health menace and sees the sights of the challenges people are handling.

A new protocol that seeks to give children better access to HIV testing and treatment was also launched on the same day.

As of August 2017, the Philippines has a total of 46, 985 HIV positive cases reported to the Department of Health according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

In line with the observance of World AIDS Day, several non-government organizations along with mandates from the Department of Health (DOH), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the World Health Organization (WHO) united together to lead the encouragement of promoting sexual health awareness and ending stigma that still impends around HIV/AIDS today.

While, the Philippine Red Cross joined the event by leading an interactive activities and spreading drive about HIV/AIDS.

The Malacañang also urged the Filipinos to unite and help to end the stigma of HIV/AIDS.

“As we commemorate World AIDS Day, we must work as one to increase the capacity of the country for early warning, risk reduction, and management of national and global health risks, including HIV/AIDS,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

To remind the public and government that HIV/AIDS has not gone away, the said health day ensue in lieu for the chance of the people to unite in the fight against the diseases. People also mourn for those who suffered and died of the diseases.