Tags: Family Health Concerns
By Anna Valmero
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, PALAWAN – For this year, the Department of Health (DoH) recorded four new cases of HIV a day, accounting for an average of 740 HIV-positive Filipinos from January to May.
This brings the total HIV cases in the country to 5,124, of which 308 died from progression of the disease to AIDS from the first case in 1984 up to December 2009.
“At this rate of four new cases a year, it calls for a massive education and greater access to right information for the most at-risk populations (MARPs),” said Dr. Gerard Belimac, program manager of the DoH National AIDS/STI Prevention and Control under the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC).
The four new cases a day is significantly higher when compared to previous years: one new HIV positive case every three days in 2000; one new case a day in 2007 and two new cases a day in 2009, said Belimac, quoting data from Philippine HIV & AIDS Registry.
The continuous increase is also seen in the fast doubling time of HIV-AIDS cases in the Philippines, which dropped to two years from 2006 to 2009 from four years from 1986 to 1989 and 1991 to 1995, and the lag time from 1996 to 2005 when the cases doubled only after ten years, added Belimac.
Of the four high-risk groups composed of registered entertainers, freelance sex workers, injecting drug users who share needles and men having sex with men (MSMs), only registered sex workers or entertainers at adult establishments access health services and hygiene clinics for job license renewal, found a survey from the National Epidemiology Center, which was based on interviews with 14,976 respondents from high-risk groups.
Failure to take the test would result in the employee not being allowed to work or employer being reprimanded.
To protect their identity, about 90 percent of registered sex workers go to Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao to access health services instead of their hometowns, said Belimac.
“They pay P40 for a test of urethral discharge or vaginal discharge for men and women, respectively. Entertainers, waitresses or staff of registered adult establishments, they get their tests every two weeks so they will be able to get their licenses and can continue to work.”
In Angeles City, Pampanga an average of 160 registered high-risk individuals go to hygiene clinics located in discreet places for testing.
Meanwhile, the number of MSMs who are HIV positive have continued to grow, sometimes beyond the one percent threshold for high-risk populations in some areas.
Not using condoms during anal or oral sex is one of the factors attributed to this rise in number, said Belimac. Sometimes, men just believe that their sexual partner is clean and free from HIV because of their “fair complexion and neat look,” he added.
Belimac also discouraged the sharing of needles since it “is the most efficient way of sharing the HIV infection.”
Prevention of HIV is as easy as ABC: abstain from sex, be faithful to your partner, use condoms, especially if you have multiple partners, avoid sharing needles and be educated on HIV, said Belimac.
The health official also encouraged Filipinos to get tested for HIV and wait for another 90 days to get a second test to make sure that he or she is not infected with HIV.
Although there are anti-retroviral drugs that postpone the progression of HIV to AIDS, the first line of treatment costs about $200 and the second line of treatment costs $1,000.
(This story also appears on Yahoo! Philippines here )
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