Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases in the Philippines

In October 2012, there were 295 new HIV Ab sero-positive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) and reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. This was 48% higher compared to the same period last year. 

Most of the cases (93%) were males. The median age was 28 years (age range: 15-56 years). The 20-29 years (57%) age-group had the most number of cases. Forty-six percent (137) of the reported cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR).

Reported mode of transmission were sexual contact (286) and needle sharing among injecting drug users (9). Males having sex with other males (83%) were the predominant type of sexual transmission. Most (93%) of the cases were still asymptomatic at the time of reporting.

AIDS Cases

Of the 295 HIV positive cases, twenty-two were reported as AIDS cases, all were males. The median age is 28 years (age range: 19-48 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (14 homosexual, 5 heterosexual, and 3 bisexual). There was no reported death for this month.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)

Thirty-one of the 295 (11%) reported cases were OFWs. There were 29 males and 2 females. The median age was 30 years (age range: 22-49 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (7 heterosexual,  15 homosexual, and 9 bisexual).

Source: Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry

Maalaala Mo Kaya (Would You Remember) is the longest-running drama anthology series in Philippine television. It has been on air since 1991. The show accepts stories from letter senders, and picks exceptional ones to present in TV format. To mark World AIDS Day, their episode this December 1 was entitled Pulang Laso (Red Ribbon).

It is quite rare for a TV station in a conservative country like ours to present a story involving a sensitive topic such as HIV/AIDS.

The TV episode elicited various reaction from people on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. While some commended the daring move of the TV network to raise awareness regarding HIV through the drama series, others remarked about it harshly.

The HIV community also weighed in. One person said that the show should have focused on Allan (Joem Bascon) as an HIV advocate, rather than spending too much air time on the love story. Another one criticized that Kevin (Carlo Aquino) shouldn't have died, and the episode should reflect that HIV/AIDS doesn't immediately equate to death. Another viewer said that there was a lot lacking, like the absence of pre and post counseling on the HIV test, as well as the absence of treatment and interventions for Kevin. Sadly, one HIV+ viewer dismissed the episode as trash and said that the show should have produced a story with another topic.

Harsh remarks, I should say, particularly coming from fellow HIV+ people. Personally, I found the episode great in that both homosexual relationship and HIV/AIDS are not often discussed on Philippine television. With a platform such as Maalaala Mo Kaya, the episode has reached out to millions of loyal Filipino viewers in the country and abroad.

People should be aware that TV has its limitations in presenting a complex story, as air time is usually just a little over an hour. Filipinos love melodramas and tearjerkers, but this one still attempted to educate viewers by subtlety inserting information about the signs and symptoms of HIV, the importance of being faithful to one's partner, the need for safe sex and regular HIV tests, and more importantly, it gave the viewers hope that despite having the disease, people living with HIV can still have normal and productive lives.

Overall, the show raised the level of awareness of the Filipino people with regards to HIV and AIDS. The show trended over Twitter. Links to the episode have been posted on Facebook. A lot of people were talking about it. And for me, this is a good sign. When people start to talk, they will eventually seek out information. One HIV counselor even said that he assisted several patients in getting HIV tests, and they confessed to him that they did so after watching Maalaala Mo Kaya's World AIDS Day episode.

As for the others who bash about the episode, I believe that they should start writing their own personal stories for TV airing next year. I am just so disappointed with some of the responses of other HIV+; they can be brutally arrogant like there's some sort of a contest or search for the best HIV+ person in the country. Please, it's World AIDS Day. Let's unite instead.

To read the complete article, please click HERE.

This is my third article with PositiveLite.com, Canada's online HIV magazine. Visit their site by clicking HERE for valuable stories, news, and other information about HIV and people living with it. 

First article: Meet Pinoy Positive

Second article: Suicidal Thoughts

Third article: MMK Reflections

Thank you PositiveLite.com for giving me the opportunity to thank ABS-CBN TV network, the show Maalaala Mo Kaya, director Nuel Naval (@directfromncn), the main actors Carlo Aquino (@carloaquino11) and Joem Bascon, the writer, and to all those were part in the creation of the Pulang Laso episode.

Thank you for making World AIDS Day more meaningful.

MANILA, Philippines - The last time I saw Sarah Jane Salazar was weeks before her death at the National Center for Mental Health where she was confined for a psychological disorder emanating from her HIV infection. 

She was delirious, but she remembered who I was. She asked if I was there to interview her, and I said no, I was there to visit. I told the hospital director that I had to give up the interview even after going through a long process to be allowed inside. 

The sight of the restless young woman, who put a face to AIDS in the 1990s, suddenly very ill, staring at a few days to her death was not a compassionate situation for an interview. It would have been my last interview with her, but I was still thankful that I saw her for the last time. 

In June 2000, Sarah Jane died of complications from AIDS. Some news reporters revealed her real name when they wrote their stories, and the names of her two children. They said she was already dead anyway, ignoring what her real identification might have caused her family. (Even Wikipedia disregarded the confidentiality clause, because it states her real name.)

The second Filipino known to go public with her HIV infection after Dolzura Cortez, then 19-year-old Sarah Jane, was introduced through a press conference in 1994 at the Department of Health, which made her a banner girl for advocating HIV prevention. 

There were differing versions of her story, but a common thread was that she was infected through sexual contact with a foreign client while earning her keep as a sex worker in Japan and Manila. She finished high school and was studying to be a nurse when fast money in sex work beckoned. Doctors observed that she was smart, as she understood her health situation.

But her time in the media limelight was not without notoriety. Within two years, she had sexual relations with a 16-year-old boy, with whom she had a child, and in which she faced charges of child abuse. She had a drug addiction. Many times, she was unruly in public. The attendant drama and spectacle about her inspired a movie, “The Secrets of Sarah Jane.”

There were others who went public before and after her, some good, others troublesome. There was Esther Nahum (not her real name), the first president of Pinoy Plus, the country’s first organization of Filipinos with HIV. There was the couple Susan and Mel, who sold their HIV-infected blood to commercial blood banks to earn money. There were Cathy, Archie and Liza Enriquez (not her real name). Even with a death wish looming from behind their brave faces, they all worked for HIV prevention under the government program.

The shift

Then there were a few years when HIV was set aside in the realm of the news media. The faces also faded out, but HIV infections increased steadily until 2008 when the health department declared a shift in the mode of predominant transmission – from heterosexual to homosexual. The DOH recorded increases of infection among men having sex with men (MSM) that were tremendously in excess of the expected trend.

It was also in that year that Wanggo Gallaga, the son of film director Peque Gallaga, went public with his HIV infection. The coming out of Gallaga, a writer, also occurred with the beginning of the shifting trend to a different face to HIV – that of young professionals who are articulate and who can assert their social and economic standing in a society that finds it difficult to shake off stigma on persons living with HIV, not to mention discrimination persons with homosexual and bisexual orientation. 

The shift could be discerned from among the names and faces currently speaking on behalf of HIV awareness and prevention, and responsible sexual behavior.

Take the case of Vincent, a young professional working in a large global computer company, who spoke before journalists attending a media seminar on HIV reporting last October. Journalists who listened to his story were in awe at the casual way he shared his HIV status without the expected drama of sob stories the media have seen in recent years.

Seeing Vincent with a bit of strangeness, however, assured them of a person who was educated about his environment and what he could do about it. “I didn’t like the media – they’re rude, have no emotions, and were only concerned about their deadlines. But I decided to face you because I thought it could be helpful,” Vincent told the journalists.

He cautioned that his story was nothing theatrical: one afternoon during a break from work, he decided to have himself tested for HIV when he heard a newscast about the rising HIV cases. He tested positive. The first thing he asked the doctor was if he could still have children because he wanted to have a family. He also asked about organizations doing HIV prevention advocacy where he could volunteer.

It took 9 months before Vincent told his partner about his HIV status, but he never disclosed it to his parents and family because he wanted to spare them of the difficulty of knowing two things – their son’s HIV status and sexual orientation. 

Vincent is one of the peer educators and counselors of the AIDS Society of the Philippines (ASP), a professional, civil society organization, where he engages in chatting with his peer through the social networks. He educates about having oneself tested especially if there is a risky behavior involved such as unprotected sex with a partner or having multiple sex partners. He also urges HIV-positive persons to seek medical help, or, for a start, talk to someone like him who could provide support.

“Don’t be afraid to get tested. If you don’t, you could damage someone else’s life,” he said.

“Do not be silent about it. Know about HIV. Fight fear with facts.” He said one of his friends who never sought treatment for HIV infection died of pneumonia, one of the infections that attack a person whose immunity is impaired by AIDS, the end stage of HIV infection. His friend was treated in hospital as a regular pneumonia patient and not for AIDS.

Dr. Jose Narciso Melchor Sescon, president of ASP, said advocates of HIV awareness and prevention are happy to work with the new faces such as Vincent. 

“Coming out in the open would entail that much courage to put a face and help in AIDS advocacy,” he said. “It reinforces and answers the question ‘who are vulnerable to the AIDS virus?’ I say it cuts across gender, race, social status, education, and religion. It’s all about behavior and what one practices that matters most.”

Rising cases

Historically, Dr. Sescon recounted that in 1985, the first persons who were tested happened to be female sex workers plying their trade in the former US military bases during disease surveillances funded by the US Naval Medical Research Unit. More sex workers, both female and male, were reported as HIV-positive throughout the 1990s.

Affected age groups and sectors changed with more studies and researches. Infections boomed starting in 2000 among overseas contract workers who were required by their host countries to undergo HIV tests before deployment or during contract renewals. This set an alarm to the international development organization Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) that helped intensify health and testing services that surfaced more migrant workers and this time, young men who have sex with men (MSM) aged 24 to 35 as the affected groups.

In 2003, the health department recorded the six-fold rise of infections in a span of 3 years. In 2007, Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao reported the most number of cases, and it was among young people, mainly MSM but now younger – 15 to 24. They still dominate the health department’s HIV registry today. For October 2012, the registry recorded 295 new infections. There are nine people who get infected every day. The affected sectors are MSM and injecting drug users.

Even if public attention has also shifted from sex workers like Sarah Jane to young professionals like Vincent, Dr. Sescon said all professional groups and people in all economic brackets are now getting infected. 

Aidan, another HIV-positive peer educator and is a physical therapist by profession, believes that the change of faces in the advocacy only “proves that HIV does not discriminate” and that “it has led to the understanding of the fact that HIV affects everyone.” 

But even with the changing times, he is concerned that young MSM professionals who give a face to the infection would be branded as promiscuous and irresponsible people. This worsens the situation because he said, “this might generalize HIV infection as occurring only to the MSM community as what has happened to the people in prostitution during Sarah Jane’s reign in the 1990s.”

Aidan said there is a need not just for young professionals to come out and speak up about their experiences, more so, “an event wherein a group of persons living with HIV, probably more than 20, to come out and give face to HIV.” He foresees this as “an impactful initiative from the positive community that will make people realize deeply that HIV is actually around us and that we should all act now before HIV comes to our doors and starts infecting our own family and loved ones.” - Rappler.com

Source: Diana G. Mendoza, Rappler.com (December 2, 2012)

MANILA, Philippines - Former Department of Health (DOH) secretary Alberto Romualdez has blamed the Arroyo administration for the rise of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases in the country.

Romualdez said the previous administration's alleged obedience to the Catholic Church's dictates to stop the distribution of free condoms had resulted in the sharp increase in the number of Filipinos who had contracted the dreaded disease. 

Romualdez, DOH chief during the Estrada administration, recalled that it was in 1997 when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) informed the Philippine government of its plan to phase out donations of reproductive health (RH) supplies, including condoms, to developing countries. 

“But USAID gave us a timetable.  And the DOH said, ‘it was okay, we'll start...our own procurement so that supplies would not run out’,” Romualdez told Senate reporters on Monday after forum on HIV/AIDS initiated by Sen. Pilar Juliana "Pia' Cayetano.  

“Unfortunately, we changed leadership in 2001 and the new (administration) under the influence of the Church put an embargo on the procurement of (reproductive health) supplies by the national government,” added Romualdez. 

According to the former DOH chief, it was during the phase-out of the USAID donation from 2001 to 2006 that the incidence of HIV rose steeply. However, he said the Arroyo administration had refused to procure condoms for HIV prevention. 

Romuladez said the DOH at the time had to rely on a separate donation from the United Nations Population Fund, “which was a smaller (volume) compared to what the need (was).” 

“That’s the connection. It was in 2001 when the procurement stopped, so the government was not able to (replenish) the products that were being phased-out by USAID and other donors. In 2006, when the supplies finally ran out, the incidence of HIV began to climb,” he said.  

“The purchase order (for condoms) was disapproved. It was stopped because of pressures from the Church. An embargo (was imposed) on all kinds of RH supplies,” added Romualdez.

Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez

Romualdez stood up at one point during the Senate forum and noted from the Power Point presentation made by DOH Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Center (NEC), that the incidence of HIV infection shot up in 2006 when the supplies of condom were running out. 

Figures from the NEC showed that from 1997 to 2001, HIV incidence in the Philippines was less than 1,000 cases a year. 

During the early years of the Arroyo administration, Tayag showed a graph indicating that from 2002 to 2006, the annual incidence increased to more than 1,000 and finally increased by 668 percent from 2007 to 2012. 

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Tayag’s presentation also showed that from one new case of HIV every three days in 2000, the DOH recorded one new case a day in 2007. 

In 2010, the department recorded four new cases a day that later increased to seven new cases after a year. 

At present, the DOH lists nine new cases a day of HIV infection, most of which occur in men who engage in sex with other men (MSM).

Romualdez said it was in 2006 when the annual increase rose to 26 percent from only 18 percent in 2005 and 17 percent in 2004. 

“As you can see from the graph, we were low and slow on HIV infection until 2006,” said Romualdez. 

The ex-DOH head said the department during the Estrada administration distributed condoms for free in areas with populations known to engage in MSM and other “risky sexual behaviour.” 

Tayag’s report also included the following:

• Over the last decade, the number of Filipinos infected with HIV has risen by more than 25 percent;

• The Philippines is now among the countries where new HIV/AIDS infections have increased by 25 percent in the last decade including Bangladesh, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Sri Lanka according to the 2012 Global Report of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS);

• The situation in the Philippines is the reverse of “trends in many low- and 2012 middle-income countries… able to reduce the rate of HIV infections by more than 50 percent from 2001 to 2011"; 

• The age bracket between 15-24 years old is the fastest growing group in terms of HIV infection and

• In MSM cases, the NEC reported that 45 percent of those who were infected with HIV said condoms were “not available” at the time of infection; 27 percent said they did not like to use condoms, 11 percent said their partner objected; 11 percent thought condom use was “not necessary”; three percent “forgot” to use condoms: another three percent said they did not know how to use condoms while one percent said condoms are “too expensive.” 

Teresita Marie Bagasao, country coordinator of UNAIDS, urged senators to pass the RH bill, saying its education component would help young people understand human sexuality from a more scientific point of view.

Cayetano, principal sponsor of the RH measure, lamented that anti-RH proponents were bent to block its passage without consideration of the health repercussions that might result from inadequate information on human sexuality.

“They are testing my patience severely whenever I have to explain the RH bill. Education in general empowers the people and does not make them sex maniacs,” she said during the forum. 

Senator Pia Cayetano

Source: Karl John C. Reyes, interaksyon.com (December 3, 2012)

*Please read the post of Mr. Naval's sister at the end of this article. Thank you.

Rodel Naval --- the handsome and enigmatic singer behind the hit ballads “Muli” and “Lumayo Ka Man” --- succumbed to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) 17 years ago, two of his siblings revealed on Saturday.

The singer’s sudden and mysterious death in Toronto, Canada on June 11, 1995 at age 42 was officially ascribed to pneumonia, but rumors soon reached Manila that he had in fact died of complications from AIDS.

His sisters Rosalie and Delia acknowledged the rumor as fact in an interview with Cristy Fermin on “Ang Latest” on Saturday, ahead of the release of a new commemorative album of Rodel’s best-known songs.

Delia said Rodel had confessed to his family in Toronto that he was HIV-positive in 1993, two years before his death. “Kalmado niya kaming kinausap. Sabi niya meron nga siyang sakit na genital,” she said.

Rosalie said their brother faced his inevitable death peacefully. “Kalmado siya kasi bumalik siya sa Diyos, at binigyan siya ng forgiveness and peace,” she said.

Despite his illness, Rodel managed a one-year stint with the cast of the Toronto production of “Miss Saigon” in 1994. He also performed two concerts in April of that year, one in Toronto and another in Los Angeles.

According to his official website, Rodel had begun his showbiz career in 1975 as an actor. But he left in 1979 when he felt his career wasn’t going anywhere and joined his immigrant family in Canada.

When he returned to the Philippines in 1990, he was already an accomplished singer who had performed in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and other cities in North America.

He finally found success at home with the songs “Muli” and “Lumayo Ka Man”. However, he left for Canada again in 1993 when he contracted HIV.

Besides the commemorative album, which will be released by Alpha Records this week, his sisters said a biography of Rodel is also in the works.

Source: interaksyon.com (December 3, 2012).

Ikaw at Ako

by: Johnoy Danao

Ikaw at ako pinagtagpo

Nag-usap ang ating puso

Nagkasundong magsama habang-buhay.

Nagsumpaan sa Maykapal

Walang iwanan tag-init o tag-ulan

Haharapin bawat unos na magdaan.

Sana'y di magmaliw ang pagtingin

Kay daling sabihin kay hirap gawin

Sa mundong walang katiyakan

Sabay nating gawing kahapon ang bukas.

Ikaw at ako pinag-isa

Tayong dalawa may kanya-kanya

Sa isa't-isa, tayo ay sumasandal.

Bawat hangad kayang abutin

Sa pangamba'y di paaalipin

Basta't ikaw, ako, tayo'y magpakailanman.

Kung minsan ay di ko nababanggit

Pag-ibig ko'y hindi masukat ng anumang lambing

At kung magkamali akong ika'y saktan

Puso mo ba'y handang magpatawad.

Di ko alam ang gagawin kung mawala ka

Buhay ko'y may kahulugan tuwing ako'y iyong hagkan

Umabot man sa'ting huling hantungan

Kapit-puso kitang hahayaan, ngayon at kailanman, ikaw at ako.

TV episode link:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvj0x6_maalaala_creation?start=25

Last November 6, when I opened my facebook account, I was surprised to see a tagged picture of my ex-boyfriend with the caption, “You will be missed.” It got me curious, which lead me to opening his profile. There was a flood of messages from his friends, and I searched for answers.

“Tinago nya sa family nya na may nararamdaman na pala syang sakit.”

(He kept his sickness hidden from his family.)

“Severe na pneumonia nya, and nagka-complications na din sa ibang internal organs nya.”

(He had pneumonia, and there were complications to his other internal organs.)

“Na-confine siya October 31. Magka-text pa kami November 3 pero wala syang sinasabi.”

(He was confined October 31. We were texting last November 3, but he didn’t tell me he was in the hospital.)

“I told him to be safe always, and to seek treatment. I don’t get it why it slipped him.”

I cannot make conclusions based on the above mentioned statements. What I have are mere speculations. But being an ex-boyfriend, I’m pretty conclusive that everything that we did sexually was unsafe. That happened four years ago. Who knows, maybe he was unsafe too with his succeeding sexual partners. On my part, I was amiss with my sexual behavior as well that’s why I got HIV.

We met several times early this year. I was on night shift, and I was walking towards the hospital. He saw me, and invited me for tea before my duty. Coincidentally, our workplaces were near each other, which eventually lead to us meeting several times after. The last was March when we had dinner; a celebration as I was supposed to go abroad for work.

I was deeply saddened by his death because he is the reason why I was able to work in Manila. He visited me twice in the province before, and when it was my turn to visit him, he pitched in the idea of me working there. In fact, during that time, there was an opening in a big hospital. Unfortunately, we parted ways several months after I was employed.

Alvin (not his real name) lived a secret life. He has always considered himself simple, yet his family, grand. I have been to his place of residence, which is far from how he described it to me. It didn't matter to me. In the duration of our relationship, I have discovered the lies he made about his family. I didn't mind. If it was his way of coping with stress, crisis, and struggles, it was fine with me for as long as he does not do anything destructive towards me or other people. Most, if not all, of us have secrets, anyway.

But besides all that, he was a great friend. He was a person full of energy, enthusiasm, and ambition. He was full of life. Swear, I haven’t seen him looking sad, crying, or in despair. He was always positive about everything. He was hands-on to his friends as well. He accompanied me when I applied in the hospital. And he did similar things to his other friends too. Like me, he also dreamed of working abroad. He talked fondly of how he wanted to better the lives of his mother and brother.

Alvin is gone now. I may not have the documents to determine the real cause of his death, nor the authority to confirm anything, but one thing is certain, he passed away leaving unanswered questions to everybody. We talked about anything and everything before, but we failed to talk about HIV.

Alvin was a charming, good-looking, young man full of ambition and it’s sad to say that all that he has planned or aimed for were not fulfilled because of his early demise. I can always reason out that we were not aware of the existence of HIV in the country. We did not know that there was a rise in HIV cases back then. Condom-buying is not common, and we have that preconceived idea that all we get when buying one are dagger stares from store attendants and other store patrons. I have never heard of any campaign against HIV back then, or maybe we were just busy with a lot of other things.

One lesson that should be learned from Alvin’s death is that, HIV should be taken seriously. To all people out there, especially the youth, you will just be starting your lives after graduation. Love yourselves, protect yourselves, and fulfill your dreams by preventing the transmission of HIV. Talk about it; make others become aware of it so that safe sexual behavior is practiced. Life with HIV is a struggle, emotionally and physically, so while you are in the know, do your part and help lead others towards the safe direction.

Los Angeles - US porn film producers vowed Wednesday to go to court to challenge a decision by Los Angeles County voters requiring actors in adult movies to wear condoms while performing on set.

The Free Speech Coalition, which describes itself as "the adult product and entertainment industry's trade association," said forcing actors to wear condoms would make porn filmmaking "untenable."

"Besides the obvious excessive costs of compliance, FSC and the industry have a number of concerns with the law itself," it said in a letter following a referendum measure approved by California voters Tuesday.

"We believe that the law is not only unconstitutional on the grounds of forced expression, but also falls within the jurisdiction of the state of California rather than the local government.

"Therefore we will file suit and challenge this intolerable law in court," it said, adding: "The law, as passed, is untenable for adult production."

LA County voters backed the condom initiative Tuesday, after campaigners gathered over 360,000 signatures to force the issue onto the ballot the same day as White House and Congressional elections and over 170-state-wide polls.

The multi-million dollar US adult movie industry, which is largely based in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, has argued that fewer viewers would want to see porn films with actors using condoms.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of five groups which spearheaded the poll push, welcomed Tuesday's poll result, in which 55.9 percent of voters backed the condom-use proposal.

The decision was "a major referendum on the subject of safer sex," the Foundation's president, Michael Weinstein, told the LA Times newspaper.

Last year, California filmmakers were forced to suspend production temporarily, after an actor tested positive for HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, the latest such disruption to the industry.

Film L.A. Inc., which issues permits for film companies shooting in the West Coast city, said about five percent of the 45,500 permit days the agency issues per year are for pornographic film shoots.

Source:

Agence France-Presse 

via interaksyon.com

Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases in the Philippines

In September 2012, there were 316 newly HIV Ab sero-positive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) and reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. This was 25% higher compared to the same period last year.

Mos of the cases (96%) were males. The median age was 28 years (age range: 16-70 years). The 20-29 year (57%) age-group had the most number of cases. Fifty four percent (170) of the reported cases were from the National Capital Region.

Reported mode of transmission were sexual contact (312) and needle sharing among injecting drug users (4). Males having sex with other males (82%) were the predominant type of sexual transmission. Most (97%) of the cases were still asymptomatic at the time of reporting.

AIDS Cases

Of the 316 HIV positive cases, ten were reported as AIDS cases, all were males. The median age is 24 (age range: 16-49 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (6 homosexual, 1 heterosexual, and 3 bisexual). There was no reported death for this month.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)

Forty-two of the 316 (13%) reported cases were OFWs. There were 38 males and 4 females. The median age was 32 years (age range: 24-61 years). All acquired the infection through sexual contact (17 heterosexual, 13 homosexual, and 12 bisexual).

Geographic Distribution

In September 2012, bulk of the new HIV cases came from NCR, Region 4A, Region 7, Region 3, and Region 11. The three highest reporting regions were NCR, Region 4A, and Region 7.

Source: 

Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry