Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor has called on Filipinos who inject drugs to get tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to mitigate the ongoing HIV epidemic.
“We would urge Filipinos who inject drugs to have themselves voluntarily tested for HIV, especially if they’ve shared an injection device,” Defensor said in a press statement on Sunday, Feb. 27.
“In America, injection device sharing among drug users is now the second biggest spreader of HIV, next to receptive anal sex. And we don’t want this to happen here in the Philippines,” the Quezon City mayoralty bet added.
Citing a study by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Defensor says that 29 percent of Filipinos who inject drugs such as methamphetamine hydrochloride (liquid shabu) have contracted HIV.
He also added that drug users who want to get tested for HIV can do so without facing legal repercussions as they are protected by a confidentiality clause.
“If we do not counteract the spread of HIV among Filipinos who inject drugs, the problem could be a huge future driver of the ongoing HIV epidemic in the country,” Defensor warned.
Defensor previously said that he would implement more HIV testing and treatment sites in Quezon City if elected mayor.
“We will increase the number of HIV treatment hubs in Quezon City. Right now, we only have six facilities providing HIV outpatient and inpatient care services,” Defensor said on Sunday, Feb. 20.
Untreated HIV eventually leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition that severely compromises a human’s immune system.