Phl to have fifth blueprint of anti-AIDS campaign

MANILA, Philippines – The country will have the fifth blueprint of its anti-HIV/AIDS campaign in the wake of the changing landscape of the epidemic, an official of the multi-sector Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) said yesterday.

PNAC Secretariat executive director Ferchito Avelino said they would be launching soon the 5th AIDS Medium Term Plan (2011-2016) with the intent of fortifying efforts to curb the rising HIV/AIDS cases in the country.

“We need to fine-tune our programs to make it relevant to the changing trend of HIV/AIDS. Before, transmission was more on heterosexual (contacts) but eventually it became more on men-having-sex-with-men (MSM). And lately, we see many cases among injecting drug users,” he said.

Avelino gave assurance that while the blueprint would be focusing on MSM and injecting drug users, the program would not be neglecting other sectors that may contribute to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Records of the Department of Health (DOH) said that from January 1984 to October 2010, there were a total of 5,729 HIV cases – 852 of which have progressed into AIDS.

But of this figure, 1,305 cases were reported this year alone, primarily due to MSM – which includes straight men – and needle sharing among injecting drug users.

Avelino stressed the need to reconcile the laws against drug abusers and the programs against HIV/AIDS to effectively halt infections among injecting drug users.

At present, anti-HIV/AIDS efforts are hampered by the stigma and legislations against drug addiction that discourage injecting drug users from coming forward and availing of any chance to be tested for the virus.

In Thailand, the HIV/AIDS epidemic a few decades ago had been triggered primarily by sharing of contaminated needles.

Just like in the Philippines, Avelino claimed Malaysia is also experiencing a changing trend in HIV/AIDS but the latter has been coming out with various control measures.

“So far, we have no stand on infection control mechanism (among injecting drug users). And some of the injecting drug users who are positive with HIV may not even be aware about their condition. We really have to do something about this,” Avelino stressed.

The DOH, on the other hand, assured the public that donated blood found contaminated with the AIDS virus had not been released for transfusion.

According to Dr. Gerard Belimac, program manager of the DOH’s National AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and Control Program, there was never a case of HIV/AIDS in the country that was caused by transfusion of contaminated blood.

Belimac admitted that some donated blood have tested positive for the AIDS virus but they were no longer released to hospitals and blood banks.

Over the weekend, LPGMA Rep. Arnel Ty claimed that at least 124 units of blood donated in the past 10 months were tainted with HIV, citing a report from the DOH-run Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Belimac said the findings only prove that the screening procedures for the blood donation program are strictly being implemented.

“It reflects the rigid screening tests done by the blood program. These are cases detected very early on and in fact they were not transfused” he said.