A university student takes advantage of the Free HIV Testing Program being conducted by the local government of Quezon City as part of its HIV awareness and prevention campaign on Sept. 13, 2019. Jire Carreon, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA (UPDATE) — The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed 1,292 HIV cases in February, with 56 teens and kids contracting the virus.
Among the cases involving teens and kids, 54 were aged 10 to 19, while two were below 10 years old, the DOH data showed. The February tally for the age group is lower than the 86 logged in January.
Mary Joy Morin, senior technical specialist of the DOH's National HIV, AIDS, and STI Prevention and Control Program, said Saturday that they are continuously monitoring the HIV cases among the 10-19 age group because of the worrying trend.
Morin noted though that many from this age group are now accessing testing services.
"Mas marami na rin sa kanila ang nag-a-access ng service kaya nakikita na po natin sa ating talaan," she told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.
"Pero gusto pa po nating maabot 'yung mga hindi pa po nate-test kasi sila ay puwede pang mag-contribute sa dagdag na impeksiyon, dagdag na bilang ng kaso kung 'di nila malalaman na may HIV sila."
The addition of 1,292 confirmed HIV cases pushed the national total to 112,028 since January 1984, of which 65,236 are currently on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) as of February 2023.
Around 1,176 were newly enrolled in the treatment program, the DOH said.
YOUTH, OTHER CASES
The agency said 373 cases in February were among the youth aged 15-24, of which 355 were male and 18 were female. Sixty-one youth cases were reported to be advanced HIV infections.
The DOH also reported six HIV-positive women who were pregnant at the time of diagnosis, while 70 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were newly diagnosed with the virus.
Meanwhile, 109 of the new HIV cases were engaged with transactional sex in the past 12 months, the health department noted.
TRANSMISSION
Although HIV can also be acquired through the sharing of infected needles and mother-to-child transmission, sexual contact remains to be the main driver of HIV infections, data showed, with 1,277 or 99 percent of February cases being acquired through sex.
Around 905 males had a history of sex with another male, according to the February data, while 148 were male-to-female sex only, and 224 had a history of sex with both male and female.
HOTSPOTS, DEATHS
Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Davao Region, and Central Visayas were the top regions with the most number of newly reported HIV cases, the DOH said.
Around 65 percent of the total number of cases in February 2023 were reported from these regions.
There were 44 newly reported deaths, meantime, "due to any cause" among those diagnosed with HIV.
"From January 1984 to February 2023, there were 6,425 reported deaths," the agency said.