MANILA, Philippines – A total of 196 Filipinos, including 23 overseas Filipino workers, were diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in August, a party-list lawmaker said Tuesday.
The figure is 81% higher compared to the 108 new cases reported in the same month last year.
This brought the cumulative number of HIV cases discovered in the first 8 months of the year to 1,416, LPG Marketers Association Rep. Arnel Ty said, citing data from the HIV and AIDS Registry of the Department of Health.
“At the rate new infections are soaring, we are easily looking at 200 new cases monthly for the rest of the year, 330 new cases monthly by 2012, and 550 new cases monthly by 2013,” Ty said in a statement released Tuesday.
Of the 196 new cases, 182 were males and 14 were females, Ty said. Their median age is 28 years.
Fifty-five percent, or 108 of the new cases, are based in Metro Manila.
Four patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) died in August, bringing to 13 the total number of deaths in the country this year due to the disease.
Ty said that based on the records, 7,431 Filipinos have been infected with HIV since passive surveillance of the disease began in 1984. Ninety-one percent, or 6,787, were infected as a result of unprotected sexual contact.
The rest were infected via contaminated needle sharing, mother-to-child conveyance, tainted blood transfusion and needle prick injuries, he added.
Ty and four of his colleagues are calling on Congress to revisit the AIDS Prevention and Control Law and a budget of P400 million to jumpstart a national action plan aimed at suppressing HIV/AIDS. –abs-cbnNEWS.com
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
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!
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Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
