HEALTH authorities are becoming alarmed by the continuous rise in the number of people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV-Aids) in the country.
"It's alarming. Di na maganda ang bilang ng mga taong may ganitong HIV-Aids," DOH-Davao director Abdullah Dumama said, adding that HIV cases increased from month to month, and the age groups that have the highest number of cases are those in the productive age: between 25-34.
According to United Nations Joint Venture on Aids, the Philippines is one of only a handful of countries at risk of a full-blown Aids epidemic if it is unable to address the problem on time.
Indeed, HIV-Aids is a problem that everyone has to face and solve.
Dumama said the country is among the nine countries which has 28 percent increase in HIV cases.
He added that there are one case per one-hour and 15-minutes.
In Davao Region, he said, the office has recorded 36 cases as of January.
Based on the figures as of January 2016, there are 804 new cases of HIV-Aids in the country which is 50 percent higher as compared to December 2015 with 650 cases.
In January 2015, the health officials recorded 536 cases. The figures also showed that 97 of the 100 percent persons living with Aids are male. The median age was 28 years old (age range: 17-66 years). More than half belong to the 25-34 year age group, while 28 percent were youth aged 15-24 years.
Regions with the highest number of reported cases for January 2016 were National Capital Region (NCR) with 370, Calbarzon with 130, Central Visayas with 71, Central Luzon with 60, and Davao Region with 36. The 137 cases came from the rest of the country.
The reported modes of transmission (MOT) were sexual contact with 771 and needle sharing among injecting drug users (IDU) with 33.
Meanwhile, 89 percent of those transmitted are through sexual contact among males with males (MSM).
Same data showed that there has been a sudden increase of cases, from 17 reported cases per day in 2014 to 27 cases per day in 2016.
The DOH also said that nine out of 10 patients do not show symptoms, and are males. From January 1984 to 2016, there were 31,160 HIV cases nationwide with 1,594 deaths.
Of the reported deaths, 13 were children below 10 years old and 16 were adolescents aged 10-19 years old. Almost half or 744 belong to 25-34 year age group, 481 were in 35-49 year age group, and 210 were youth aged 15-24 years.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the HIV is a retrovirus that infects cells of the immune system, destroying or impairing their function.
As the infection progresses, the immune system becomes weaker, and the person becomes more susceptible to infections. The most advanced stage of the HIV infection is the Aids. It could take 10 to 15 years for an HIV-infected person to develop Aids.
Antiretroviral drugs can slow down the process even further. WHO said HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse (anal or vaginal), transfusion of contaminated blood, sharing of contaminated needles, and between a mother and her infant during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.
To address the growing number of HIV cases, the DOH earlier implemented the HIV-STI Prevention Program, which aims to reduce the transmission of the HIV and sexually transmitted infections among at-risk groups.
Rise of HIV-Aids positive ‘alarming’
Ivy C. Tejano
rHEALTH authorities are becoming alarmed by the continuous rise in the number of people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV-Aids) in the country.
"It's alarming. Di na maganda ang bilang ng mga taong may ganitong HIV-Aids," DOH-Davao director Abdullah Dumama said, adding that HIV cases increased from month to month, and the age groups that have the highest number of cases are those in the productive age: between 25-34.
According to United Nations Joint Venture on Aids, the Philippines is one of only a handful of countries at risk of a full-blown Aids epidemic if it is unable to address the problem on time.
Indeed, HIV-Aids is a problem that everyone has to face and solve.
Dumama said the country is among the nine countries which has 28 percent increase in HIV cases.
He added that there are one case per one-hour and 15-minutes.
In Davao Region, he said, the office has recorded 36 cases as of January.
Based on the figures as of January 2016, there are 804 new cases of HIV-Aids in the country which is 50 percent higher as compared to December 2015 with 650 cases.
In January 2015, the health officials recorded 536 cases. The figures also showed that 97 of the 100 percent persons living with Aids are male. The median age was 28 years old (age range: 17-66 years). More than half belong to the 25-34 year age group, while 28 percent were youth aged 15-24 years.
Regions with the highest number of reported cases for January 2016 were National Capital Region (NCR) with 370, Calbarzon with 130, Central Visayas with 71, Central Luzon with 60, and Davao Region with 36. The 137 cases came from the rest of the country.
The reported modes of transmission (MOT) were sexual contact with 771 and needle sharing among injecting drug users (IDU) with 33.
Meanwhile, 89 percent of those transmitted are through sexual contact among males with males (MSM).
Same data showed that there has been a sudden increase of cases, from 17 reported cases per day in 2014 to 27 cases per day in 2016.
The DOH also said that nine out of 10 patients do not show symptoms, and are males. From January 1984 to 2016, there were 31,160 HIV cases nationwide with 1,594 deaths.
Of the reported deaths, 13 were children below 10 years old and 16 were adolescents aged 10-19 years old. Almost half or 744 belong to 25-34 year age group, 481 were in 35-49 year age group, and 210 were youth aged 15-24 years.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the HIV is a retrovirus that infects cells of the immune system, destroying or impairing their function.
As the infection progresses, the immune system becomes weaker, and the person becomes more susceptible to infections. The most advanced stage of the HIV infection is the Aids. It could take 10 to 15 years for an HIV-infected person to develop Aids.
Antiretroviral drugs can slow down the process even further. WHO said HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse (anal or vaginal), transfusion of contaminated blood, sharing of contaminated needles, and between a mother and her infant during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.
To address the growing number of HIV cases, the DOH earlier implemented the HIV-STI Prevention Program, which aims to reduce the transmission of the HIV and sexually transmitted infections among at-risk groups.