More OFWs getting afflicted with HIV virus

More and more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are returning home already afflicted with the dreaded AIDS virus.

Records of the Department of Health (DOH) indicate a rising number of returning OFWs, mostly seafarers who were diagnosed to be positive for human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV).

Dr. James Nicolas, medical specialist of the Philippine National AIDS Council, said OFWs now account for 27 percent of the total number of Filipinos confirmed to be afflicted with HIV.

Nicolas said there are now a total of 408 OFWs recorded to be afflicted with HIV, majority of them seafarers.

From 1984 when the first HIV case was recorded in the country up to June of this year, Nicolas said, a total of 1,533 Filipinos have been recorded to have acquired HIV and AIDS.

The Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE), a non-government organization assisting workers with HIV, reported that last year, OFWs already account for 25 percent of the total number of Filipinos afflicted with the deadly virus.

ACHIEVE official Ma. Lourdes Marin explained that many OFWs leave the country without a realistic picture of life abroad, thus, making them vulnerable to the disease.

Marin also cited low knowledge about AIDS and low condom use as among the major factors why OFWs are at high risk of acquiring the infection that now afflicts millions of people globally.

"The condition in migration such as loneliness, homesickness, social isolation, hostile migration policies and absence of reproductive health information also makes OFWs at high risk of acquiring HIV," she added.

To address the problem, Marin said, migrant workers should have access to appropriate information about health risks and sexuality as well as other occupational hazards.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is currently undertaking HIV/AIDS appreciation courses among local workers in a bid to promote public awareness on the fatal disease.