‘RP facing HIV epidemic explosion’

ANGELES CITY — The Philippines is on the brink of an "explosion" of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and full-blown acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases, an official of the Philippine National AIDS council (PNAC) warned yesterday.

In an interview with The STAR, Dr. Roderick Poblete said the latest count of 2,354 HIV cases and 702 AIDS cases in the country is just the "tip of the iceberg."

Poblete said while the number of reported HIV cases is low compared to other countries such as those in Africa where one out of four persons has been reported to be infected, the Philippines faces the threat of an HIV "epidemic explosion."

"The use of condoms has been largely disregarded and our studies show that 60 percent of our population believe they cannot contract HIV, while another 23 percent falsely believe that a cure for HIV and AIDS has already been discovered," he said.

Poblete also said the increasing "sexual adventurism" of the Filipino youth is one of the factors that could trigger an explosion of HIV cases. He could not immediately cite how many HIV cases remain unreported.

He said that the latest studies show the "painful reality" that a majority of the 2,354 confirmed cases of HIV range in age from 15 to 49.

"These are employees, workers, students and other people in the prime of their lives," Poblete said. "They belong to the age group that is most productive and pump-priming the economy."

He warned that should the number of HIV-infected people increase, this would inevitably result in "social disharmony" arising from strong discrimination against patients who contract the infection.

In a related development, the House of Representatives committee on millennium development goals, chaired by Cebu Rep. Nerissa Corazon Soon-Ruiz, is set to hold here today a public forum on proposals to amend the Philippine AIDS Law.

In a statement, Ruiz said that, while previously described as "low and slow," the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country "has been re-characterized by government as ‘hidden and growing.’"

Poblete noted that HIV cases currently "slant toward the male population." The PNAC reported that of the 2,354 HIV cases recorded so far since 1984, a total of 591 were male, mostly aged from 30 to 39. About a fourth of them are "gays," or men who prefer to have sex with other men.

The remaining 369 HIV cases are women, mostly aged from 20 to 29, he said.

"What’s more dangerous is when women outnumber men, because this could mean they could pass on HIV to their babies when they get pregnant," Poblete said.

He said there is an urgent need to make more people aware of HIV prevention to curb the threat of an epidemic explosion.

Poblete noted that of the 2,354 people with HIV, 797 were overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were sent home by their employers after having been diagnosed with the virus abroad.

"The figure seems insignificant compared to estimates that we have eight million Filipinos working abroad, but the problem is that many of those sent home because of HIV never reveal their illnesses to their families. Because of this secrecy and ignorance of HIV, spouses of these OFWs also end up with HIV," he said.

Poblete said "the tragedy is at the family level because these OFWs are the breadwinners. We probably don’t feel it at the macro level since there are many other Filipinos who, for lack of local employment opportunities, could replace them as workers abroad."

"The large part of the pyramid is composed of people in the vulnerable sector, including sex workers," he said.

Poblete said that of 702 patients with full-blown AIDS, 273 have already died.