Duterte to sign law boosting campaign vs AIDS

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is set to sign a law empowering the national government to go full blast in its campaign against HIV/AIDS, House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said yesterday.

The new law will amend Republic Act 8504, or the Philippine National AIDS and Control Act of 1998, which has been in effect for the past 20 years. 

It will implement a flurry of measures to prevent a full-blown epidemic of the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), a disease which has affected more than 50,000 Filipinos.

The law will strengthen the comprehensive campaign against HIV and AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.  

“RA 8504 serves as the national legal framework in the country’s fight against AIDS and we need to make it more responsive, considering the advances in HIV research and policy,” Andaya said.

The measure, known as the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, was ratified by both the Senate and the House before Congress went on recess on Oct. 10.

Citing reports from the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC), Andaya said the number of Filipinos living with HIV/AIDS will exceed a quarter of a million by 2030 unless the government takes drastic actions to address the growing epidemic.

The Department of Health earlier reported and warned as well that the Philippines had one of the “fastest growing” HIV epidemics in the world, with 57,134 cases recorded from January 1984 to July 2018. 

Joselito Feliciano, director of PNAC, estimated about 265,900 cases of Filipinos with HIV/AIDS in the next decade.

A majority of new infections were likely to be teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24.

Feliciano, a doctor by profession, said that an average of 31 Filipinos are diagnosed with HIV-AIDS every day, compared to two new cases reported daily in 2008, 13 in 2013 and 22 in 2015.

Andaya said the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act aims to strengthen and reconstitute the PNAC with a separate budget under the General Appropriations Act.

It will have its own secretariat and staffing pattern.

Meanwhile, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte is pushing for an intensified “war” against HIV and other sexually transmitted illnesses (STI).

With as many as 32 Filipinos testing positive for HIV every day, Belmonte said there is a need to strengthen the education and awareness campaign on reproductive health.

“People residing in big cities like Quezon City are the most vulnerable in terms of these sexual infections. Among the solutions we’ve rolled out to stop the epidemic, it is education that is the most important,” Belmonte said yesterday.

“Young people should be taught more about HIV and AIDS prevention. Only with enough awareness can they know how to prevent the infection and what they can do to be smarter about their reproductive health,” she added.

Belmonte noted the alarming increase in HIV cases in the country, citing reports showing that the Philippines is one of the few countries with increasing number of cases.

“According to the latest study, as many as 32 people test positive for HIV every day. Majority of these cases are in Metro Manila, and it’s hitting young people more and more,” she said.

Belmonte earlier led the passage of a city ordinance that mandated the distribution of “accurate and age-appropriate” information materials on reproductive health and the prevention of HIV, AIDS and other STIs in public high schools in the city.  – With Janvic Mateo