Philippines - HIV infections still on the rise in PH

MANILA, Philippines — Almost 400 new cases of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which could lead to the fatal Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if not suppressed, were reported last November, 35 per cent more than in the same month last year, according to the Department of Health.

Contracting the HIV virus could lead to a condition characterized by the weakening or breakdown of the body’s immune systems.

Data from the Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry showed that there were 384 new HIV cases reported in November. This figure is 35 percent higher compared to the same period last year, when 284 cases were recorded.

The new 384 cases brought to 4,456 the number of cases since January and to 16,158 since 1984.

Thirty-five of the November cases, according to the registry, were full-blown AIDS.

The bulk of the new HIV cases were in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas and Davao.

“However, the three highest reporting regions were NCR, Calabarzon and Central Luzon,” according to the registry.

Ninety-six percent of the cases were males, of which 63 percent belonged to the 20-29 age group.

Of the 384 HIV positive cases, 379 were contracted through unprotected sex, with men having sex with other men as the predominant type of sexual transmission. Five were infected through needle sharing among injecting drug users.

Ninety-one percent of the cases were still asymptomatic at the time of reporting, the DOH noted.

A total of 153 deaths were reported from January to November this year. Of this number, 146 were males.

The highest number of deaths occurred in the 25-29 age group, followed by the 30-34 and the 35-39 age groups, the DOH said.

For the month of November 2013 alone, three deaths were reported, it added.

As of November, there were 5,355 people living with HIV who were reported to have been undergoing anti-retroviral therapy, the DOH said.

Source: Inquirer News

Philippines - HIV and the Philippines' population policy

In less than four weeks, the Philippines is likely to set a new and disturbing record: For the first time, the number of new HIV-infected individuals will top 3,000 in a single year.

This alarming total is twice that of the number of new HIV cases recorded only two years ago—and Alberto Romualdez, health secretary during the the previous Joseph Estrada administration, thinks he knows why:

“Unfortunately, we changed leaderships in 2001, and the new [administration] under the influence of the Church put an embargo on the procurement of [reproductive health] supplies by the national government,” Romualdez told reporters on the sidelines of a Senate forum the other day. The ban applied to one of the more effective protections against HIV protection and the spread of AIDS: the simple condom.

“That’s the connection. It was in 2001 when the procurement stopped, so the government was not able to [restock] the products that were being phased out by USAID and other donors. In 2006, when the supplies finally ran out, the incidence of HIV began to climb.”

These are loaded words; does Romualdez have the supporting data? The monthly disease surveillance reports of the Department of Health, the latest of which brings the data up to October 2012, suggest that Romualdez is in fact on to something.

In the first half of the Gloria Arroyo presidency, the number of HIV cases rose only slightly from year to year: from 174 in 2001 to 210 in 2005. The year 2006 saw a big jump of about 50 per cent, to 309. And then the dam broke: 342 in 2007, then up 54 per cent to 528 cases in 2008, up 58 per cent to 835 in 2009, up a staggering 90 per cent to 1,591 HIV cases in 2010.

To be sure, the Benigno Aquino administration took over in the middle of 2010, and the record of the last two years has been disappointing. The growth rate has slowed down considerably, but in absolute terms the numbers remain dismal. Last year, the annual total of new HIV patients rose 47 per cent to 2,349; this year, at the rate new cases are recorded every month, the full total may reach 3,200 or so—an increase of about 36 per cent.

All of which beg the question: Is this the new normal? Even if the Department of Health (DOH) manages to stabilise the alarming growth rate in new infections, has the HIV situation in the country reached a tipping point? Even if the restocked RH supplies reach more and more Filipinos at risk, we may still be looking at 2,000 to 3,000 new HIV-infected individuals every year.

“The purchase order [for condoms] …. was stopped because of pressure from the Church,” Romualdez has said. This assertion needs to be verified, but the reality is, Church opposition to contraceptives is no secret. After its legitimacy crisis erupted in 2005, the Arroyo administration deliberately courted the support of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines by moving heaven and earth on the two social issues dearest to the CBCP: the death penalty and reproductive health. The real surprise would be if Arroyo did not succumb to pressure from the bishops.

But the DOH statistics should prompt the leaders of the Catholic Church to examine their conscience, and to review their position on the vexing issue of HIV and AIDS.

The numbers clearly show that the Church’s view on condoms, as symbolic of a pernicious “contraceptive mentality”, as a policy measure that would only encourage promiscuity and even greater moral irresponsibility, has real-world consequences.

Unless the leaders of the Church are prepared to question the validity itself of the DOH statistics, they should humbly accept the unavoidable conclusion that the no-condom policy they favour has put more Filipino lives—thousands more every year—at great risk. Christian duty requires nothing less.

This is not to say that the statistics have made the issue less complicated. On the contrary, very personal (and therefore moral) reasons explain the explosion in HIV cases. But the role of a truly compassionate Church is not to pass judgement or to add to the ranks of the vulnerable; it is to care for the sick, and lessen their suffering.

Editorial Desk 

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Philippines - Rise In HIV Cases Worries the Philippines

MANILA – At a time when many countries are seeing their HIV infection rates level off or decline, the Philippines is going in the opposite direction.

The big Southeast Asian nation historically has had a relatively low HIV rate, which experts say is particularly surprising given that condom use is discouraged by the powerful Philippines Catholic church. Experts have argued for years over why the Philippines rate is so low, with far less than 1% of the country’s 95 million people believed to have HIV or AIDs, and less than 350 new cases as recently as 2007.

But officials have seen an unexpected surge in cases in the past several years, with a more than five-fold increase between 2007 and 2011, with 2,349 new cases last year. The total number of cases as of April 2012 is 9,396, compared to just 3,061 in 2007.

The Philippines is now recording seven new HIV infections a day, versus one a day before 2007, making it one of only seven countries worldwide where HIV infection rates continue to rise rapidly, says Dr. Erik Tayag of the Philippines Department of Health. The other countries are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, according to a 2010 UNAIDS report.

Government epidemiologists have warned that by 2015, the total number of HIV cases in the Philippines could reach 45,000 from the reported 7,000 cases in 2011.

 Doctors are still trying to determine the cause of the unexpected increase. Either way, domestic and international HIV experts have been warning for a while that the Philippines has all the necessary ingredients for an HIV epidemic. In addition to low condom use among Filipinos, it is common in some communities for Filipinos to have multiple sexual partners, with prostitution widespread in some areas.

Another possible contributing factor is the especially large number of Filipino citizens who work overseas for part of their adult lives, often in jobs or in regions that have relatively high rates of infection.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) now comprise one-fifth of the total HIV and AIDS cases in the Philippines. As of May 30, a total of 1,921 OFWs have been diagnosed as HIV-positive, but experts say this number probably doesn’t represent the full picture, as many OFWs with HIV return home without going through any tests, meaning no one knows they are infected.

One HIV positive man named Jaymee who prefers not to be identified by his full name worked for 17 years in Japan and Korea as a factory worker, entertainer, and waiter. He said that OFWs with HIV are ashamed to approach Philippine  embassies for assistance when working overseas, especially when they are undocumented workers, as he was.

“I am hoping that the government will have a program that will reach out to Filipino communities to help OFWs with HIV,” he said.

Some leaders in the Philippines say the country needs to rethink its policies to confront the rising incidence of the disease. Despite the jump in cases, public spending on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support has dwindled from 81 million Philippine pesos (US$1.9 million) in 2009 to 65million pesos (US$1.6 million) in 2011. The UNAIDS organization says the cost of treating Filipinos with HIV and in need of anti-retroviral treatment could rise to 428.5 million pesos (US$10.3 million) by 2015.

Activists say part of the problem is that legislation passed in the 1990s to manage the problem is now outdated. Congresswoman Janette Garin, a senior deputy majority leader, has authored a new HIV and AIDs prevention and treatment bill she and others say would provide clearer strategies for targeting the disease.

The bill proposes new funding of 400 million Philippine pesos (US$9.6 million) for public awareness campaigns, condom procurement and other outreach. “The current rate of spending will not reverse the epidemic,” said Jonas Bagas, executive director of TLF Share, a non-governmental organization focusing on sexual health. “We need to spend more, and we need to start doing it next year.”

It’s unclear, though, if the bill will pass, and even if it does, it could take months, Mr. Bagas said.

Meanwhile, alarmed by the rising number of OFW Filipinos turning up positive for HIV, Congressman Arnel Ty has urged Filipino sailors with sexually active lifestyles abroad to have themselves tested for HIV to curb the spread of the disease.

“It is not exactly a secret that many sailors are exceptionally vulnerable to HIV, owing to their easy access to commercial sex services overseas, plus they have the money to pay for it,” said Congressman Ty, who is also one of the authors of the new bill that aims to raise funding.

More than 350,000 Filipino sailors serve on board foreign ocean-going vessels at any given time.

Josephine Cuneta

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