HIV incidence rising among young workers

THE Department of Health yesterday said the younger working population makes up the highest number of HVI cases in the Philippines.

But they do not necessarily come from the call center industry, said Dr. Gerard Belimac, director of the DOH-National AIDS/STI Prevention and Control Program, aiming to correct the misconception that the high risk of acquiring HIV is limited to the call center industry.

“Sa data natin, it’s really in the younger working population nakikitang common ito. It is not necessarily in the call center. They may be from call centers, they may be not,” said Belimac.

“It’s what you do. It’s not who you are,” he added.

Early this year, reports came out that workers of the call center industry are very prone to HIV transmission because of their work environment and peer pressure resulting in risky sexual behavior.

Based on the October 2010 DOH HIV/AIDS Registry report, 27 (26 percent) of the 104 new cases this month belong to the 15 to 24-year-old age bracket.

For the year 2010, 31 percent or 399 out of the 1,305 HIV cases so far belong to the youth sector.

On the overall, 1,123 out of the 5,729 HIV cases in the country recorded since 1984 belong to the younger population. – Gerard Naval, Manila Bulletin