2023-11-17 06:12:07
In the Philippines, the number of cases of HIV infections has almost doubled this year and almost half of those newly infected are young people aged 15 to 24, according to the Ministry of Health, reported by the daily Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Health Minister Teodoro Herbosa said HIV infections have increased, reaching around 50 new cases per day, compared to a daily average of 22 last year. According to him, a new sub-variant of the virus would explain this increase.
“This has happened before. We are only detecting it now because we were focused on Covid.”
In 2022, a group of researchers discovered that a new variant of HIV called subtype B, reminiscent of Philippine Daily Inquirer, might cause a more serious infection and that people affected by this strain might have “an average viral load approximately four times higher than what is usually noted”, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
According to UNAIDS, the Philippines has had one of the fastest growing AIDS epidemics in the world, since 1984. In 2017, the Department of Health declared the epidemic a national emergency due to the rapid increase in number of cases.
The Ministry of Health aims to develop actions with the Ministry of Education in order to disseminate greater information to the young public, explains the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Lack of information
The percentage of young Filipinos aware of HIV risks has fallen to its lowest level since 1994, according to a 2021 study by the University of the Philippines.
This study on fertility and sexuality among young adults estimates that 76% of young Filipinos aged 15 to 24 have heard of HIV and/or AIDS. A drop of 19 percentage points compared to 1994, when the awareness rate was 95%.
More than half (52%) of young people wrongly believe that a person can contract HIV by sharing food with an infected person. In addition, some 35% of young people also do not believe in the usefulness of condoms in reducing the risks of HIV infection. Moreover, the survey highlights the low rate of condom use during sexual relations.
Between 2019 and 2022, the number of HIV infections increased, from 74,807 to 109,282. The Philippines is thus the country which, for a decade, has recorded the fastest contamination in Asia. The number of new infections increased from 12,778 to 14,970 during the same period.
In an editorial last September in the daily Philippine Star stresses that the number of infected Filipinos might double by 2030, from 189,000 to 401,700.
“To reverse the trend, it is necessary to strengthen protection and treatment, but also to convince public opinion of the interest of these policies.”
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