HIV cases alarming

A TOTAL of 2,087 Filipinos living with the human immunodeficiency virus are now on anti-retroviral therapy, an official said Friday.

Rep. Arnel Ty of the sectoral party LPG Marketers’ Association says the number does not include those who have died, left the country or decided to stop taking therapy.

He made the statement shortly after the Health Department’s National Epidemiology Center reported the discovery of 212 new HIV cases in January, which was up 39 percent from the 152 detected in the same month last year.

HIV causes AIDS or Acquired Immune De ficiency Syndrome. The disease destroys the human body’s immune system and does not have any known cure. But anti-retroviral therapy can slow its advance.

HIV has claimed the lives of at least 342 people in the Philippines, including a 7-year-old boy who died in January.

“The standard [anti-retroviral therapy consists of the combination of at least three antiretroviral drugs to maximally suppress the HIV and stop the progression of the disease,” at the World Health Organization says.

“Huge reductions have been seen in the rates of death and suffering when use is made of a potent antiretroviral regimen, particularly in the early stages of the disease.”

The WHO estimates that of the more than 30 million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries such as the Philippines, only 6.6 million have access to anti-retroviral therapy.

Ty urged Filipinos living with HIV to seek ART in any of the 16 hospitals indentified as HIV “treatment hubs.”

These are the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center, Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Jose B. Lingad Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Philippine General Hospital, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Makati Medical Center, The Medical City, Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, Western Visayas Medical Center, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, Zamboanga City Medical Center, and Southern Philippines Medical Center.

Ty is co-author of a bill that seeks to earmark P400 million to start a new National HIV and AIDS Plan with definite strategies, operating guidelines and targets. –Manila Standard Today