The growing number of Filipinos contracting HIV is alarming according to the recent news. The news was aired by Bandila, ABS-CBN's flagship news program. I stay late during weekdays just so I could keep myself updated with all the things that's happening in the Philippines before I sleep and this is when I found out about this sad news. According to the news, there were around 322 newly recorded case of HIV infection in the country adding to the more than 3,000 (approximately 3,911) HIV cases recorded since 1984. Just May of this year alone, the Philippines has 85 new cases of HIV-positive individuals. Males occupy the largest percentage of the total number of Filipinos who have HIV (88 percent; 36 percent of the 88 percent are homosexuals).
The director of the United Nations Development Programme, Renaud Meyer, has recently announced allocating $1.5 million budget to help the Philippines create a development program to help fight the disease.
Abstinence, monogamy, and wearing the necessary protection help in preventing the transmission of HIV. I just hope that scientists will soon come up with an effective vaccine or cure for HIV/AIDS.
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As an OB Gyne specializing in Infectious DIseases, I am alarmed at the high rate of newly diagnosed cases of HIV I see in my practice. These people are young, intelligent, likeable...it's so tragic that they have fallen victim to a disease that could have been prevented. We might be sitting on a full=blown epidemic here that the authorities are ignoring. We have to warn the people to abstain from sex, or if they can't, to use the condom correctly and consistently.
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