THE Philippines has become the country with the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific and one of the eight countries that account for more than 85 percent of the new HIV infections in the region,” Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said Tuesday.
She said that, based on the latest data from the UNAIDS Report on the global HIV epidemic states, the new HIV cases among Filipinos more than doubled from 4,300 in 2010 to 10,500 in 2016.
She said these new infections occurred in 117 “high-burden areas” including the National Capital Region, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Cebu, Davao, Tagum, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga, General Santos City, Koronadal, Butuan, Iloilo, Bacolod, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Naga, Lucena, Angeles, Mabalacat, Tarlac, San Fernando, Cabanatuan, Olongapo and Baguio.
Ubial said 85 percent of the new HIV infections among Filipinos were among males who had sex with males, cases that the Health department refers to as MSMs.
“We believe the stigma plays a role in the low, shall we say, acceptance to testing and getting treated,” Ubial said.
“I think there’s still a lot of fear and also, shall we say, denial among certain population groups that they will not be infected.”
Ubial said the youth may be too embarrassed to inform their parents or relatives that they wanted to go to a testing center or vice versa.
“If parents are not comfortable talking to their teenage children, then we ask them to also come to the health facility and we will help them and counsel their children,” Ubial said.
Since HIV is one of the top health priorities of the government, Ubial said, the government had significantly increased the budget allocated to HIV in the past few years, and was now implementing programs that were expected to produce a positive impact.
She said her department together with the Philippine National AIDS Council, other government agencies, local government units,and partner civil society groups were determined and committed to halt the increase in the number of cases and start reversing the trend of the epidemic in five years.
The department’s Public Health Surveillance department chief Genesis Samonte said “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, adding that two out of every three new HIV infections would be among the 15-to-24-year-old MSMs, with only a few young men fully aware of HIV, its symptoms and treatment.