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Department of Health Region 7
Director Asuncion Anden said that HIV cases in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and
Lapu-Lapu, Philippines have reached epidemic proportion. For the time period
from January to April of 2013, Cebu has reported 27 suspected HIV cases;
Mandaue City, 5 cases; and Lapu-Lapu City has reported four cases.
According to Department of Health
Region 7 Assistant Secretary Pauly Jean Russel Ubial, the Philippines has seen
a total of 339 new HIV cases for February of this year compared with 274
recorded for 2012, an increase of 24 percent for 2013.
For the February 2013 cases, 86
percent are males, with most of the cases falling within the 20–29 age group,
and the predominant mode of transmission for new cases was for males having sex
with other males (82 percent), although an increase of cases among injecting
drug users has also been seen.
From 1984 through February of 2013,
the Philippines has recorded a total of 11,204 cases of HIV, of which 1,217
have developed AIDS. At least 353 fatalities have resulted from the disease.
Ubial stated that for every case
that has been reported, at least 10 are undetected or unreported, meaning that
potentially there could be at least 90,000 individuals who are infected but do
not know they have HIV.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
