DOH sees 100% rise in HIV cases

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) announced that the reported number of new HIV infections by the end of 2009 will increase by more than 100 percent compared to 2007. 

This was reported last Dec. 11 at the National Dissemination Forum on the 2009 Integrated HIV Behavioral and Serologic Surveillance (IHBSS) by Dr. Eric Tayag, director of the DOH National Epidemiology Center. 

Tayag said the national HIV survey among most-at-risk populations showed a dramatic 500 percent increase from one HIV-positive MARP per 1,000 in 2007 to five in 2009.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in the Philippines collaborated with the DOH in conducting the IHBSS and organizing the National Dissemination Forum. 

UNAIDS is concerned that with the disturbing results of the survey against the backdrop of poor national coverage of AIDS programs and services, the situation will likely get worse before it gets better. 

“The speed and degree by which the situation will turn from bad to worse will be determined by how decisively the country confronts the situation now,” said Teresita Marie Bagasao, country coordinator of UNAIDS Phils.

AIDS programs and services will only start to demonstrate impact after three to five years, and when at least 60 percent of the target population has been covered by prevention programs and show evidence of behavior change. 

Sustaining the gains and impact of HIV prevention programs would require universal access coverage, or reaching as close to 100 percent of the target population as possible. 

However, only 20 percent of groups at most risk of HIV infection in the Philippines have been reached by prevention activities. While reported condom use among these groups is 62 percent at a national average, this masks the alarmingly low level of condom use at 22 percent among certain populations.

While the Philippines is committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including Goal 6 of “halting and reversing the spread of HIV,” the country is off-track from achieving this target by the 2015 MDG deadline, given just another five years.  

“For a long time, I heard people refer to the HIV epidemic in the country as ‘hidden and growing.’ Growing? Those of us living with HIV have been saying that, even when no one cared to listen. Hidden? Look at the figures and the message is clear: the epidemic is not hidden somewhere; it is here and it is out,” said Lorna Garcia, president of Babae Plus, a support group of Filipino women living with HIV.

At a time when the number of new infections globally has decreased by 17 percent between 2000 and 2009, the number of new infections in the country increased by 334 percent during the same period. 

“This is not just a wake-up call, it’s a rude awakening. Today, when we know what works, inadequate and inappropriate action is not an option. We need to collectively act now to increase coverage on prevention,” Bagasao said.