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Monday, December 08, 2003
Aids: Deadlier than ever
By Henrylito D. Tacio
NEW YORK -- Science is helping American HIV/Aids patients live longer, fuller lives, or more specifically, those who can afford the costly drug cocktails that inhibit the progress of the disease. But the incidence of HIV/Aids is soaring in many developing countries, including the Philippines.
Currently, there are 42 million people living with HIV/Aids (PLWHA) around the world, according to the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).
By 2030, some 70 million people about the whole population of the Philippines will die of Aids.
The Philippines averages 10 to 15 new HIV cases per month. The Department of Health (DOH) National Epidemiology Center reported that for the month of August, 15 new HIV cases were reported, bringing to 91 the total number of registered HIV/Aids patients this year and to 1,921 cases since 1984.
Today, more than seven million Filipinos are working abroad, particularly Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, China, the Middle East and Japan. At least 30 million family members are highly dependent on the income earned by their loved ones overseas. Of the almost 2,000 PLWHA in the country, some 560 have worked overseas.
A study conducted by the United Nations Program on HIV/Aids (UNAids) shows that "compared to workers from other countries HIV awareness among Filipinos are relatively higher." For example, Filipina maids working in Malaysia were aware of the risk of HIV/Aids and knew about prevention methods and the dangers of high-risk behaviors such as promiscuous and unprotected sex.
Although AIDS can strike anyone, it first occurred among homosexual and bisexual men who had many sexual partners. Today, at greatest risk for Aids are people who engage in sex without using condoms and infants born to Aids-infected mothers. Also at great risk are male and female intravenous-drug users who share needles, and people who received blood transfusions.
Aids is not a highly contagious disease, assures the health experts. The only way you can get it is to have unprotected vaginal, oral, or anal sex with an infected partner or to share tainted blood, which may occur through intravenous-drug use or transfusions.
(December 8, 2003 issue)
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