HIV cases up 21% in 2022

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are getting infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each day at a rate that is 21 percent higher in 2022 than in the previous year, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

The DOH said the daily average of new HIV cases went up to 41 in 2022 from 34 in 2021, showing more Filipinos contracting the infection at a faster rate.

Based on the December 2022 HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines report, there were a total of 14,970 new HIV cases detected between January and December 2022.

The 2022 figure, the DOH said, is 2,631 cases higher than the 12,339 cases recorded in 2021.

The increase in total cases also pushed up the average number of people diagnosed with HIV a day.

In 2022, the DOH said there were 4,377 people diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In 2021, there were only 3,871 AIDS cases diagnosed.

Sexual contact remains the most common mode of HIV transmission in the 14,637 cases recorded in 2022.

Of that number, 10,006 infections were acquired through male-to-male sex, 2,970 through heterosexual contact, and 1,661 cases through female intercourse.

The DOH also recorded 95 HIV infections acquired through sharing of infected needles, and 37 cases of mother-to-child transmission. There were 201 cases with no data on the mode of transmission.

Metro Manila accounted for the majority of new HIV cases with 3,915, followed by Region 4A (Calabarzon) with 2,800 and Region 3 (Central Luzon) with 1,803.