It started with a cough that never went away. Then came a sore that never seemed to heal. After days of fervent worrying, Paul (not his real name) decided not to see his regular doctor anymore. He proceeded to have an HIV test.
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The 23-year-old call center agent had heard stories about a colleague who always got sick and never seemed to get better. “He contracted the flu one month, then pneumonia several weeks later. It was unusual,” Paul said.
Upon the advice of a doctor, the office mate went to a clinic and had his blood screened for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). A week later, the bad news came: he tested positive for the virus.
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When Paul found out about his colleague, he knew he needed to be tested immediately. After all, he was the perfect fit for the profile of high-risk individuals for HIV and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS): a young gay man who has multiple partners and has had unprotected, penetrative sex with other men.
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Gay rights advocates and AIDS awareness groups have confirmed that young gay men are beginning to represent the new face of HIV/AIDS in the country, with recent figures showing an increasing trend in homosexual transmission.
Since 2007, two-thirds of HIV infections recorded in the country were found among men with homosexual or bisexual relations, according to statistics from the Department of Health (DOH).
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This is significantly higher than the overall figure of 43 per cent for homosexual and bisexual transmission since the first HIV case was reported 25 years ago, official data shows.
In the same period, 90 per cent of the cases were sexually transmitted infections, with intravenous drug use accounting for the rest. In 2009, however, all the new cases so far came from sexual contact, majority among young men.
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From January to October this year, 86 per cent of the 629 new cases who tested positive for HIV were males. In October alone, 80 new HIV-positive cases were recorded, mostly men aged 25-34 years old who had sex with other males.
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“It’s impossible not to touch on homosexual concerns when relating to HIV/AIDS programs,” said Malu Marin, executive director of the AIDS advocacy group ACHIEVE. “But we approach HIV/AIDS programs in the country holistically,” she said.
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With new cases of HIV infections rising by one-third this year, the Philippines is one of the countries where a “hidden and growing epidemic” is imminent, the United Nations warned on the occasion of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.
The increasing trend worries Renaud Meyer, UN Development Program country director for the Philippines, who says the government is unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of stopping the spread of HIV by 2015.
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“Instead of reversing and halting it, we see increasing cases,” Meyer told GMANews.TV.
“It is important to promote voluntary testing especially among vulnerable and high risk group because when more people get tested, we’ll have a better knowledge on the real situation in the Philippines,” Renaud added.
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Overall, the DOH has recorded 4, 218 HIV-positive Filipinos from 1984 up to October 2009. A total of 828 Filipinos developed AIDS, and 318 have since died including one this year, according to official records.
Back to the closet
Medical professionals concede that the figures do not reflect the real picture of HIV/AIDS in the country, as there could be many more under-reported cases among individuals who are either scared to take the test or lack awareness about the disease.
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Cebu Rep. Nerissa Corazon Soon-Ruiz, chair of the House committee on the Millennium Development Goals, said there are an estimated 11,000 undocumented and unreported HIV and AIDS cases in the country.
A doctor by profession, Ruiz said a bill needs to be passed to amend the existing Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998 to increase the current level of awareness among Filipinos about the problem. The envisioned legislation will also propose appropriate measure to support HIV and AIDS carriers and their families by improving support systems for them.
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