HIV cases in RP double over three years

First posted 09:15pm (Mla time) Jan 31, 2006
Agence France-Presse

AN AIDS crisis threatens the Philippines as the number of people who are HIV carriers has doubled in just over three years, the health department warned Tuesday.

A Department of Health study projected the number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) carriers to have risen to 11,168, from about 6,000 in 2002, Health Secretary Francisco Duque told reporters.

The widespread practice of unprotected *** makes AIDS a serious threat in the Southeast Asian country, he added.

Many people who are likely living with the virus are mixing with the general population and are unaware that they are infected, Duque said.

Men who have *** with other men, female *** workers, their male clients, and injecting drug users are the groups most at risk, Duque said.

However, these groups account for only 2,942 of the total HIV carriers estimated in the Philippines, said DOH epidemiologist Enrique Tayag.

"A significant change in this estimation is that 8,000 of these HIV positives are now found in the general population. This means that current interventions miss a hidden population that would benefit and thus avert a major catastrophe," Duque said.

In the DOH survey, one percent of injecting drug users in Cebu, the country's number-two city, are HIV-positive, Duque said.

"For the first time after nearly a decade of surveillance, another IDU [injecting drug user] has tested positive. This means that the transmission among IDUs has begun and, if left unchecked, will cause the repetition of an epidemic similar to that of Thailand," Duque warned.

World Health Organization country representative John Marc Olive said the discovery of HIV-positive injecting drug users should serve as a "red flag" for the Philippines taking into consideration Thailand's experience when those infected by the virus transmitted HIV by sharing needles.

Duque said many injecting drug users had multiple *** partners, did not practice safe ***, and shared needles.

Duque said the government had set aside 20 million pesos to stockpile anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS sufferers. The virus destroys the human body's immune system.

"It's a dilemma for the [DOH] to have to manage opposition from the (Roman) Catholic Church because it views condoms also as a family planning method and not just a tool against HIV/AIDS," Duque said.

He urged the church to allow the government to promote condom use among the faithful in this mainly Catholic country.