(MB FILE PHOTO)

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa on Tuesday, June 3, warned that the number of Filipinos living with HIV could exceed 400,000 if urgent and aggressive action is not taken to curb the country’s rapidly rising infection rate.

“Kapag hindi po natin napigilan ang pagdami ng HIV, aabot tayo sa lampas 400,000 people living with HIV (If we don’t stop the spread, we could reach over 400,000 people living with HIV),” Herbosa said.

Earlier, Herbosa called on President Marcos to declare a national public health emergency on HIV, in response to a 500 percent surge in new infections.

“Fifty-seven new cases a day. 500 percent increase ito. Tayo ang pinakamataas sa na numero ng new cases of HIV sa buong mundo. Iyon ang nakakaalarma (Fifty-seven new cases a day. That’s a 500 percent increase. We have the highest number of new HIV cases in the world. That’s what’s alarming),” he said earlier.

Herbosa emphasized that the epidemic is now hitting much younger Filipinos. 

“Napakarami po ng ating new cases sa ating mga kabataan (We’re seeing a huge number of new cases among our youth),” he said, citing a case of a 12-year-old child from Palawan who was already sexually active and diagnosed with HIV.

With the rising threat, Herbosa called for a dramatic scale-up of the country’s response, particularly in testing, prevention, and treatment.

“Mahal po ang pagbayad ng mga gamot ng anti retrovirals kaya kailangang-kailangan po ma-increase natin ang testing, ma-increase natin ang prevention, ma-increase natin ang treatment, at bumaba ang viral load (Antiretroviral drugs are expensive. That’s why we need to increase testing, prevention, treatment, and reduce viral loads),” he said.

The Department of Health (DOH) chief stressed that HIV is no longer a death sentence, but the country must adopt a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach to reverse the rising trend.

“Nagagamot na po ang HIV ngayon, at hindi kailangang mamatay dahil advanced HIV or AIDS. Ang maganda, magkaroon tayo ng public health emergency—national emergency for HIV—dahil magtutulong-tulong ang buong lipunan, the whole-of-society, whole-of-government can help us in this campaign na mapababa ang new cases of HIV (HIV is now treatable. People don’t have to die from advanced HIV or AIDS. Declaring a national emergency will let the entire society and government join the fight to lower new HIV cases),” he stated.

To increase early detection, the DOH is encouraging use of HIV self-test kits, now available in pharmacies.

“Mayroon na rin tayo sa Pilipinas nung self-test kits, and I hope magamit itong self-test kits para makapag-test lalo na ‘yung iba sa stigma, iyong iba takot magpa-test (We already have self-test kits in the Philippines. I hope people use them, especially those who fear stigma or testing),” he said. 

“So pwedeng bumili sa ating mga butika ng self-test kits for HIV and later on pwede naman gawan ng confirmatory test, at kapag may testing na po, sa ating HIV treatment hubs libre po, bayad ng PhilHealth ang ating antiretroviral treatment (They can buy self-test kits at drugstores, follow up with a confirmatory test, and once tested, antiretroviral treatment is free, covered by PhilHealth).”