BAGUIO CITY—In 2008 we had one case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection a day, and a low budget for HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment program. Now, we have an average 25 new detected infections every day, and the budget still remains low.
Thus said Chi Laigo Vallido of the Forum for Family Planning and Development (The Forum) in a recent news conference in preparation for a candlelight ceremony for those who died of Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Year after year, the Philippine National Aids Council (PNAC) appeals for a higher budget, but it does not seem to be a priority, she said.
Vallido expressed confidence that presumptive President Rodrigo R. Duterte will be more attentive to the issue.
“I do not doubt this since as Davao mayor, Duterte was consistent in his support for the Reproductive Health bill,” she said.
The PNAC said there are no signs of slowing down, “unless we accelerate efforts to educate Filipinos, remove fears and stigma and encourage high-risk populations to get tested,” Health Action Information Network (HAIN) Program Coordinator Nilda de Vera said in a press statement. HAIN is a member of PNAC.
Despite the rise in cases, Vallido said advocate teams are poorly staffed and there remains the urgent need to fund the advocacy, especially on the aspect of giving information.
The situation is seriously alarming, especially among the youth.
“The latest government data shows that the rate of HIV infection among adolescents is escalating. Over the last five years, from 2011 to 2015, new cases among the young increased by 230 percent,” she said.
But only 25 percent of them are able to access treatment.
Since the first HIV infection reported case in the Philippines, the number as of March has risen to 32,647—30,136 males and 2,500 females. Predominantly, 24,438 cases were transmitted through men having sex with men (MSM), followed by male and female sex with 4,006 cases. Even more disturbing, among the infected MSM, more than half belong to the 25 to 34 age group and 30 percent even younger, 15 to 24 years old.
The Department of Health (DOH) report shows this year alone in the month of March, 736 new HIV positive cases were reported to the HIV/AIDS & ART Registry of the Philippines (HARP), 10 percent higher in the same period last year. About 89 percent were asymptomatic at the time of reporting.
The National Capital Region registered the most number of new diagnosed cases at 284 (39 percent), followed by Region 4A, with 94 cases (13 percent); Central Luzon, with 82 cases (11 percent); Region 7, with 71 cases (10 percent); and Region 11, with 65 cases (9 percent). The rest of the 149 cases were spread out from different regions.
In the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), notorious for having the highest teen-pregnancy rate in the country, Vallido said the Young Adult Fertility Survey of 2013 showed that more than three out of 10 youth have engaged in premarital sex (PMS), a rate higher than the national average. Three out of four had their first PMS unprotected against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Only about half of the youth were aware of STIs and about a third thought AIDS was curable. Even more alarming was that eight out of 10 considered themselves invincible—that there was no chance of them getting AIDS.
In CAR, Baguio City, where life is faster and fancier, registered the highest rate of cases at 151 from 1984 to the present. But this may not be true data, said Dr. Alexi Marrero of the DOH in the Cordillera. He said that because of the stigma attached to HIV-AIDS, people avoid getting themselves tested in their own areas.
The region has a total number of 237 HIV cases, 219 of whom remain asymptomatic.
Guerrero said the most number of transmittal in the region, consistent with the national figure is MSM, numbering already 105 from 1984 to the present, consistent with the figure of 103 men with HIV infection compared to only 29 females.
As Vallido stated, the youth group showed a high vulnerability rate, with 103 cases in CAR from the 25 to 34 age bracket and 60 cases from those 15 to 24 years old.
On the national level, also from January 1984 to March 2016, MSM registered the highest rate of transmission (24,438, or 81 percent). More than half (13,120, or 54 percent) among MSM belong to the 25 to 34 age group, with 7,214 (30 percent) were youth 15 to 24 years old.
Despite the rising number, Dr. Celia Brillantes, head of the Social Hygiene Clinic of the Baguio Health Department, said for the past 20 years since the clinic was set up, they worked with only two staff members and only in the past year-and-a-half did they have 15 peer educators working 10 days a month for P1,500.
But meager funding has not stopped the team of Brillantes from finding creative ways to move their cause forward.
The team launched the Bonjing web site that serves as an information venue for the youth to express their sexual expressions and issues; and where, likewise, the health-care team can gather the frequently asked questions of the youth. Bonjing was awarded the Best Practices Award in Internet-based Public Service for Young Adults by the National Academy of Science and Technology.
They also produce booklets on frequently asked questions on latest issues of the youth.
One of their most down-to-earth programs is the gathering of bar owners and guest-relations officers, the collective bar workers, into a loose organization known as BABES, an acronym for Baguio Association of Bars and Entertainers.
“The leadership of BABES is keen on the prevention of HIV infection. They encourage their ladies to stay in the bar and not to go out with customers,” Brillantes said.
Brillantes has, for years, offered free STI testing and treatment for the bar girls who come regularly to her clinic. They see in her a friend and a confidante and, out of that trust Brillantes has guarded over the years, she has successfully enticed 100-percent voluntarily testing for HIV among the night bar workers of the city. Her clinic provides free HIV testing, which will last for the whole year with pre- and post-counseling.