MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) launched yesterday a survey to determine the extent of the trend of “men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM),” which is changing the landscape of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the country.
Dr. Eric Tayag, director of the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center, said they observed an increase of MSM among people infected with HIV so they decided to initiate the three-month survey that ends in November.
“MSM is becoming a sexual norm. This is contributing to the increase of HIV/AIDS and this is not merely about gays. This is about men who have sex with men,” he said in a health forum organized by the Philippine College of Physicians.
Commercial sex was the leading mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS in the country several decades ago, but it was slowly overtaken by MSM in the past years.
The DOH’s Philippines HIV/AIDS Registry showed that from January 1984 to July 2009, there were 4,021 HIV cases in the Philippines, 817 of whom have progressed into AIDS.
Health officials said 3,609 of the 4,021 cases were infected through sexual contact. From 2007, a total of 477 cases or 38 percent of sexual transmission was homosexual while 423 or 34 percent were heterosexual and 341 or 28 percent were bisexual.
The DOH had registered 432 HIV/AIDS cases from January to July 2009. Seventy of the cases were recorded in July with “bisexual contact as the most predominant type of sexual transmission.”
Tayag said that MSM used to be “hidden” and was known to circulate in clandestine places like rundown movie houses. –Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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