EDITORIAL - HIV/AIDS on the rise

In 2008, the Department of Health recorded one case of HIV infection daily in the entire country. By 2016, the figure had jumped to 26 daily. This year, the figure has gone up further, to an average of 29 new cases every day. Data from the DOH Epidemiology Bureau showed that in May alone, 1,098 more Filipinos were infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus, bringing the total so far this year to 4,388.

The 1,098 is 48 percent higher than the 741 HIV cases registered in the same month last year – the highest ever since the DOH started keeping track of the potentially fatal disease with the establishment of the HIV / AIDS Registry in 1984. The DOH also noted that it was the first time that the number of HIV infections breached the 1,000 mark in one month.

Why should the public worry? Because AIDS is no longer confined to certain vulnerable groups such as sex workers and intravenous drug abusers, and the number of children infected with HIV is on the rise. The virus is increasingly infecting younger people, with the highest number of cases recorded in the 25-43 age group since 2006, compared to the 35-49 group from 2001 to 2005.

Since 1984, the DOH has recorded 44,010 HIV/AIDS cases nationwide, of which 140 were full-blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome at the time of reporting. Of the 1,098 diagnosed in May this year, eight were pregnant women, three of them from Metro Manila – the region with the highest number of HIV infections – and two in Central Luzon.

Transmission in May was highest through sexual contact, with 86 percent among males having sex with males. This is a shift: up to 1990, 62 percent of the HIV/AIDS patients in this country were females. But since 1991, males have accounted for an overwhelming 93 percent of the transmissions.

Health experts have warned that the Philippines is one of the few countries where HIV/AIDS cases are on the rise. The virus had a slow start in this country, which may explain the initial tentative response to confronting the disease. But DOH records show an alarming, consistent increase in HIV infections in recent years. While there has been much progress in treating the virus, AIDS continues to kill. There is no room for complacency.