By Wilnard Bacelonia
MANILA – Senator Loren Legarda on Wednesday backs the Department of Health’s (DOH) call to declare a national public health emergency the surge in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases.
This, after the health department reported a 500 percent surge in cases among Filipinos aged 15 to 25 in the first quarter this year.
Latest HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report showed there are 148,831 HIV cases recorded nationwide from 1984 to March this year.
A total of 5,101 cases were logged during the first quarter of this year, higher than the 3,409 recorded during the same period last year.
Meanwhile, an average of 57 HIV cases were reported daily, also higher than the 37 recorded during the same period last year.
These include the case of a 12-year-old girl from Palawan, the youngest confirmed case in the region who got infected through sexual transmission.
“This reflects a deepening public health and social crisis. The case of the young girl in Palawan underscores the vulnerability of our children and adolescents, and the urgent need for targeted, compassionate interventions,” Legarda said in a news release.
“We must expand access to free and confidential testing, strengthen awareness and education, and build a more responsive health system that can sustain prevention, treatment, and care,” she said.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian called the reported 500 percent increase in HIV infections among young Filipinos a public health emergency that demands urgent government response.
“This is a wake-up call that our youth are in danger,” he said.
Gatchalian urged the Department of Education to address inconsistencies in its 2018 policy on reproductive health education and ensure its proper implementation, and emphasized the need to engage parents and strengthen values formation through existing education programs. (PNA)
