RP’s AIDS statistics not accurate due to gaps in surveillance system — expert

A local expert in the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) lamented over the weekend that gaps in the government’s surveillance system assail the accuracy of official statistics on the disease.

According to Dr. Ofelia Monzon, former president of the AIDS Society of the Philippines, the government’s HIV/AIDS surveillance system has been focused primarily on commercial sex workers and does not sufficiently cover overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

"For years, the monitoring system prioritized the sex workers when, in fact, they are not the only high risk group. There are the (OFWs) who are not fully covered by the surveillance system. There are gaps in the detection system," Monzon noted recently.

The Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS Registry showed that there are 1,866 HIV cases in the country from January 1984 to April 2003.

But Monzon claimed that the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has estimated that HIV cases in the Philippines are actually "10 times higher" than what is reported to the DOH.

"We cannot depend on statistics to say that prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country is low. The figures are not accurate and there is no way of checking it at this point in time," Monzon said.

Worldwide, HIV/AIDS has infected 42 million people over the past two decades and six million of them come from South and Southeast Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the largest chunk with 29.4 million cases.

Earlier UNAIDS chairman Dr. Zahidul Huque revealed that the UNAIDS would be reviewing the Philippines’ policy, surveillance and epidemiologic systems on HIV/AIDS to validate the "slow and low" rate of transmission of the disease when "the ingredients for an epidemic explosion (are) present in the country."

Huque was referring to the presence of commercial sex workers, overseas workers and drug addicts using hypodermic needles.

He warned against being complacent on the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign, citing South Africa which registered low HIV prevalence 10 years ago but now has the "worst HIV epidemic in the world."

Monzon said the government must Introduce a system that will effectively monitor returning overseas workers against HIV/AIDS, claiming that the number of HIV-infected overseas workers has been increase over the years but has been left undetected.

She added that some OFWs learn that they are infected with HIV only when they undergo mandatory pre-departure medical examinations before they return to jobs overseas.

"HIV/AIDS testing is not mandatory in our country. We hope the government could find a way to monitor people without violating their human rights. We also hope that those in high-risk groups will be responsible enough to check if they are infected or not," Monzon said.