MANILA, Philippines - The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a growing epidemic in the Philippines.

This is supported by data from the Department of Health (DOH), which reported in June 2015 that new HIV
cases in the Philippines have grown by as much as 1,038% in as little time as 6 years.

At present, 21 Filipinos are reported to be infected with HIV daily.

There are many factors contributing to this problem. For one, the DOH recorded low condom usage among
Filipinos, with over 13% of Filipinos unaware that “using condoms reduces the risk of HIV.”

“Condoms, when used correctly and consistently, are highly effective in preventing HIV and other sexually
transmitted infections,” the World Health Organization (WHO) stressed.

It’s a problem that cuts across the different sectors of the country. While men having sex with men (MSMs) are
the most prone to contracting the disease, the number of Filipino babies infected with the disease is on the rise.

“Virtually every other country in the world, it's going down, the number of babies that are infected with HIV.
The Philippines is one of the few where it's actually going up,” World Health Organization (WHO) country
representative Julie Hall earlier told Rappler.

According to the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), only 2% of women have ever been
tested for HIV in the Philippines. An HIV-positive mother could transmit the virus to her child during
pregnancy, labor, delivery, or breastfeeding. (READ: What you need to know about children with HIV/AIDS)

From the cities to the shores

From June to August 2015, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, MovePH, went around the Philippines to recruit
and train citizen journalists and advocates in a series of workshops.

During the workshops, movers were asked to determine problems in their areas that they want to solve through
storytelling and online-to-on-ground campaigns. While we got the usual answers - corruption, transportation,
and the negative effects of urbanization - one problem consistently came up in all our communities - HIV/
AIDS.

Most of our movers expressed their concern on the growing number of HIV/AIDS infected individuals, that
seldom undergo the right treatment, in their areas.

Major cities like Iloilo, for example, lead with the most number of registered cases of AIDS, with 254 infected
individuals from 1984 to July 2015. Our mover from Iloilo, Russel Mendez, reported that HIV/AIDS cases
continue to rise Western Visayas, with one person getting infected every 24 hours.
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu has the highest number of reported HIV cases in Central Visayas (Region 7)
between January and May 2019.

According to a recently released report by the Department of Health Region 7, Cebu province recorded 69 cases
of HIV infection during the month of May alone and a total of 333 infections from January to May.

Bohol reported 29 cases of HIV infection between January and May, while Negros Oriental recorded 31 cases.

The smallest province in the region Siquijor had the least number of infections with only 3 between the months
of January and May.

This brings the total number to 396 people tested positive for HIV from January to May in Central Visayas.

DOH-7’s medical program coordinator Dr. Van Philip Baton for infectious diseases said that Cebu’s rates are
higher than its neighboring provinces due to its being the most populous in the region.

“It is due to density and the urbanized setting,” Baton told Rappler. “There are more young people in the region,
especially in Cebu for employment and tourism,” he added.

The most common mode of transmission in the Central Visayas between January and May was male to male
sexual intercourse with 192 cases; followed by men who have sex with men and women with 92 cases, then
male to female sex with 54 cases; and transmission through infected syringes with 50 cases reported.

According to DOH’s report, 6,372 people tested positive for HIV nationwide between January and June this
year.

The DOH said in 2018 that while the Philippines has a low HIV prevalence rate, it has the fastest growing
epidemic in the world in terms of percentage incrase.

In response to this, Congress passed the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act of 2018, which was signed into
law by President Rodrigo Duterte last December. – Rappler.com
DOH reports 1,200 new cases of HIV in
January 1794
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Published March 9, 2019, 6:21 PM

By Analou De Vera

The Department of Health (DOH) had recorded more than 1,200 newly-diagnosed cases of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the month of January.

Department of Health (Manila Bulletin)

“In January 2019, there were 1,249 newly confirmed HIV-positive individuals reported to the HIV/AIDS &
ART Registry of the Philippines. Sixteen percent (196 cases) had clinical manifestations of advanced HIV
infection at the time of diagnosis,” said the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau.

“Eight were pregnant at the time of diagnosis,” the department noted. Four cases were from the National Capital
Region (NCR) and one case each from Ilocos Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas.

The figure is higher compared to the 1,021 cases reported during the same period last year.

There were 22 reported deaths due to “any cause among people with HIV,” the DOH noted.

Meanwhile, at least 42 people were diagnosed with HIV per day.

The data showed that sexual contact remains as the predominant mode of transmission with 1,223 cases or 98
percent of the total figure.

Other modes of transmission included were sharing of infected needles with nine cases; and mother-to-child
transmission with four cases. There were 13 cases that had no data on the mode of transmission.

Majority of the cases were from the NCR (402 cases). It was followed by Calabarzon (228 cases), Central
Luzon (114 cases), Central Visayas (97 cases), and Western Visayas (92 cases).

The DOH said that there have been 63,278 confirmed HIV cases reported in the Philippines since the first case
of HIV infection in the country was discovered in 1984.