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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Tuesday, June 27, 2017
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ILOILO City – It’s high time for Iloilo province to have a body dealing with the prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections (STI), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), according to a member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).
The province has 301 cumulative cases of HIV/AIDS, said SP member Bryant Paul Biron, citing the HIV and AIDS Registry of the Philippines from January 1986 to December 2016.
“To better grasp and deal with the situation locally, there is a need to create a council which shall formulate and supervise an integrated prevention and control program in the province, and allocate more resources for such,” stressed the chairperson of the SP committee on health and sanitation.
HIV/AIDS is a disease that recognizes no territorial, social, political, and economic boundaries, and has no known cure so far.
With the right treatment and support, however, people living with HIV/AIDS can live long and healthy lives, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
“HIV/AIDS is not just a health issue but a multi-factorial problem. Thus, a collaborative effort from different sectors is necessary to address this problem,” said Biron who introduced proposed Ordinance No. 2017-139 creating the Iloilo Province Multi-Sectoral STI, HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Council and its Technical Working Group.
Two series of committee hearings on the proposal were already conducted.
DOH Region 6’s HIV/AIDS figures in Iloilo were actually much higher than that which Biron cited from the HIV and AIDS Registry of the Philippines.
Early this year, according to DOH, one person was diagnosed with HIV every 15 hours in Western Visayas. Iloilo province had 260 asymptomatic cases and 53 AIDS cases (for a total of 313 cases as of February 2017).
Dr. Elvie Villalobos, DOH-6 infectious disease cluster head, said the most at-risk populations were homosexuals and commercial sex workers who do not use protection.
DOH-6 data showed that majority of those infected in the region were males (1,556) as against 120 females.
Villalobos enumerated several ways to avoid HIV/AIDS. These were the following:
* sexual abstinence
* be faithful (to your partner)
* consistent and correct use of condom
* do not use drugs
* early detection and education.
In the whole country, DOH recorded 41,315 HIV and AIDS cases since 2008./PN
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