313 new HIV/AIDS cases recorded in March

MANILA, Philippines - Last March the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 313 new cases of HIV infection, the highest in one month since 1984.

The DOH said the figure brought to 9,163 the total number of cases since the Philippine HIV and AIDS registry began in 1984.

The number is 82 percent higher than the 172 cases recorded during the same period in 2011.

“The modes of transmission were sexual contact (280), needle sharing among injecting drug users (31), and mother-to-child transmission (two),” the DOH said.

“Males having sex with other males (83 percent) was the predominant type of sexual transmission. Ninety-three of the cases were males. More than half of the cases belonged to the age group 20-29.”

The DOH had recorded three deaths; one of them a female in March, bringing the death toll to 348.

The registry showed that of the 313 cases, 37 were overseas Filipino workers who acquired the AIDS virus through sexual contact. 

Thirty-one of them were male.

The DOH said 47 percent or 146 of the new cases came from Metro Manila, followed by Central Visayas 15 percent, Calabarzon 11 percent, Central Luzon eight percent and Davao with six percent. 

NGOs express concern

A group of non-governmental organizations (NGO) yesterday expressed concern over the soaring cases of HIV/AIDS in the country.

In a statement, the Philippine NGO Council on Population Health and Welfare Inc. (PNGOC) said the reports that March 2012 posted the highest number of new HIV cases on a monthly basis should not be ignored.

PNGOC executive director Eden Divinagracia said this shows that Filipinos are not fully aware about the AIDS virus, especially since sexual contact remains the primary mode of transmission in the country.

“We are alarmed by the lack of awareness and information of the public regarding HIV,” she said. 

“The HIV/AIDS registry shows that sexual contact remains as the number one mode of transmission, with 280 individuals engaging (in) the activity. Homosexual contact resulted in 143 new cases, followed by bisexual contact with 89 and heterosexual contact with 48.

“If only there is a national policy on reproductive health (RH) which can help educate and inform the public about HIV/AIDS, this (could) have been prevented. – Paolo Romero