HIV infects one Pinoy every 5 hours — UNDP

LEGAZPI CITY, Aug. 25 — Health authorities fear some 15,000 new cases of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) will emerge by Christmas of this year as the Philippines accounts for five newly-confirmed HIV-positive Filipinos every five hours.

This was revealed Wednesday by the Executive Director of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) during a one-day Albay Provincial HIV Stakeholders’ Summit held here.

Edma (not her real name), an HIV positive person who participated in the summit, said that “while debates between advocates and skeptics continue, we are dying of the disease, so we seek the support of both private and government institutions to augment prevention of spread of HIV.

Edma, an Albayana (whose home address was withheld for security reasons) said she is a survivor in a family that was affected by HIV, who have suffered discrimination and rejection due to lack of proper information among other members of the community. Her daughter was even driven out of a hospital in downtown Legazpi a couple of years ago when the hospital management learned the patient was HIV positive.

Edma’s husband and daughter had already died of complications due to the HIV virus.

Dr. Ferchito Avelino, PNAC Executive Director, told reporters at a press conference held prior to the summit proper on Wednesday, that although the Philippines is still a low prevalence country, there have been 5,233 reported HIV cases from 1984 to the earlier part of 2010.

“All 17 regions of the country are reporting HIV cases which is rapidly rising among Commercial sex workers, people of multiple partners, those engaged in sexual activities not using protection such as condom and Injecting Drug Users (IDU),” Avelino said, adding that most of the infected are males and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Renaud Meyer, United Nations Development Program Country Director said during a press briefing that the alarming number of cases needs to be acted upon promptly by all sectors to pre-empt an ‘eruption’ of an epidemic in Albay province.

Albay Provincial Health Officer Luis Mendoza said the province will do all the necessary steps to give all children and the youth a future without HIV and AIDS. “This can be done by promoting and supporting HIV/AIDS prevention, education and counseling for all.”

Albay Governor Joey Salceda said he wants people to be very healthy, happy, well educated, well informed in order to empower them to create a built-in responsibility in preventing HIV and AIDS from getting into their bodies as well as spreading it to the rest of their peers.

Salceda said the summit had informed local elected leaders, civil society, religious leaders non-government organizations, the media, and business group, on the current state of HIV in the country, the Bicol region, more particularly in the province of Albay and the need for the newly elected officials to take necessary action towards meeting the Millenium Development Goals (MDG), specifically HIV.

The summit also sought to update the stakeholders on the status of the national government response and to come up with a unified response and commitment to prevent Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STI) and HIV in the province of Albay.

“The summit envisioned an alliance as it will be articulated in a multi sectoral commitment to prevent the spread of STI and HIV in Albay,” Salceda said.

Since the first case of HIV was detected in the Philippines in 1984, a total of 2,484 cases have been officially reported by the end of March 2006. However, in 2005, the estimated number of people living with HIV was 11,200.

But organizers of the summit said that risk factors for HIV have been increasingly observed, together with a lack of information and limited access to prevention services.

The Philippine government has demonstrated a commitment to prevention and management of HIV and AIDS by passing the 1998 Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act (RA 8504), through which the PNAC was designated as the coordinating body for the HIV and AIDS response.

Avelino also said the threat calls for all sectors to scale up response to prevent an epidemic.

The United Nations through the UN Children Education Fund (UNICEF) as well as its local partners ponder on local legislations, awareness, integration to education, lobby for funds and greater budget allocation, assigning focal point among staffs, to gather strategic information and further strengthen partnerships for children and youth against HIV and AIDS. (PNA)

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