P2M-budget for HIV awareness proposed

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Health Officer Stella Ygoña is pushing for an allocation of P2 million for HIV awareness programs and for the purchase of reagents to be used for the early detection of HIV in the city.

Ygoña had asked the Cebu City Council to make the appropriation.

Health officials yesterday said that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) cases in Cebu City is already considered alarming although they do not know yet how many of the 293 HIV positives in the city since 1984 died of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Apparently, there is no monitoring of what happens to people afflicted with HIV or AIDS in Cebu City and nearby places.

Dr. Ilya Abellanosa-Tac-an, head of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Section of the Cebu City Health department, said they recorded 16 new HIV positives in the city from January to March this year.

The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reported a total of 172 persons newly tested positive of HIV infection nationwide as of last March, bringing to 483 the number of HIV cases recorded for the first quarter of this year.

Of the 172 persons who are HIV positive, 158 are men. Since 1984, the total number of people with HIV reached 6,498.

Ygoña is encouraging sex workers to undergo regular tests. Health officials cannot compel them to do so because compulsory HIV testing is prohibited by law.

According to Dr. Tac-an, needle-share among drug users is the leading cause of HIV transmission followed by unprotected sexual contact. Tac-an also expressed apprehension over cases among young male professionals who have sexual relationships with other men.  

Amid the continuing debate over the proposed Reproductive Health Bill, Tac-an is advising people to protect themselves from HIV with the use of condoms and not to share needles.

While the oldest HIV positive this year is a 55-year-old man, records show that in the past years there was a 79-year-old found positive of the virus. The youngest is only 15 years-old.

Most people with HIV admitted to be drug dependents who shared syringes in injecting Nubain. Other modes of HIV transmission are sexual contact, blood transfusion and organ transplant. (FREEMAN)