A 13-YEAR-OLD was recorded this year to be the youngest person in Davao City to have contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through sexual transmission.
No further details were divulged by the Davao City Aids Council (DCAC) due to confidentiality.
The DCAC data from January 1984 to July 2018 showed that there have been at least seven minors recorded to be infected with HIV.
Pricilla Senoc, DCAC secretariat, said Thursday, November 8, that as early as 13 years old, some are already having sex and this has become an alarming trend among the youth.
“Kahit na anong age group mo, dahil ang number one transmission in HIV is sex, yun parin. Kahit na 50 years old, pwede ka pa rin [magka-HIV],” Senoc said.
In Davao City alone, there have been a total of 2,525 HIV reported cases of which 132 are females and 2,393 are males.
The president of Olympus Davao, Oscar Obenza, said the higher number of HIV cases in males may be caused by the misconception that the infection came from gay men. There are probably more gay men who go to the clinic for HIV testing, thus the figure.
“Nagapabata ng nagapabata na gyud (Those infected with HIV are getting younger and younger as time passes),” Obenza said.
Senoc emphasized that HIV could be transmitted to anyone, regardless of age or gender, through blood, sexual contact, sharing of needles, mother to child transmission, among others.
The DCAC also reported that there have been over a hundred deaths due to HIV-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids). DCAC reported 118 deaths but the Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) recorded about 125 deaths.
RHWC head doctor Jordana Ramiterre pointed out that there could be more as some death certificates do not show that the patient died of HIV-Aids.
The global commemoration of World Aids Day will be on December 1, but the city will commemorate it starting December 4, followed by simultaneous activities that would help with the awareness on HIV.