Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said lagundi tablets which are effective against cough and asthma; and sambong tablets, used as a diuretic and for treating kidney stones will be sold by 55 National Food Authority (NFA) "rolling stores" in Metro Manila.
Dayrit said the herbals come in bottles of 100 tablets but the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) will soon come out with tablets in foil strips.
Dayrit encouraged Metro Manilans to use the herbal medicines because they are inexpensive but effective.
Dayrit said that aside from lagundi and sambong, the DOH is also promoting eight herbal plants for use at the household level for primary health care, namely tsaang gubat for stomach pains, yerba buena for body pains, niyug-niyugan for ascaris, bayabas as a wound disinfectant, akapulko for skin infections, ulasimang bato for arthritis and gout, bawang for lower cholesterol level and ampalaya for diabetes mellitus.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) said that 12 new human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) infections have been reported for the months of October and November.
The DOH HIV/AIDS Registry said that of the 12, five were men and the remaining were women; their ages ranged from 31 to 47 years old. Ten of the HIV infection cases were transmitted through heterosexual sexual intercourse, two through homosexual intercourse. Six of the cases were reported to be already in the symptomatic stage.
The HIV/AID Registry also reported that six HIV infection cases (four female and two male) in the country had developed into Acquired Immune Deficiency Sydrome (AIDS).
From January 1984 to October 2001, there were a total of 1,573 HIV cases. There are now a total of 529 AIDS cases in the country, and 229 AIDS-related deaths.
World AIDS Day was last Saturday and the World Health Organization is conducting a global awareness campaign dubbed "I Care . . . Do You?" that aggressively promotes safe sex and the use of condoms to prevent HIV infection.
Shigeru Omi of the WHO Western Pacific region said that HIV incidence continues to be high in men, indicating the male population of the region is driving the AIDS epidemic in Asia. – Rainier Allan Ronda