HIV cases among the youth rising, says Herbosa

The cases of human immunodeficiency virus or HIV recorded among the younger population are now increasing, with as young as 15 years old getting transmitted with the virus, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa disclosed Tuesday.

Herbosa, citing latest figures, said that there are about 50 new HIV cases a day registered among Filipinos of all ages. Of this number, 47% are among the youth aged 15 to 24.

“We’ve noted that most of our new HIV cases are of the younger population. So as young as 15,” he said in an ambush interview.

The Health chief also pointed out that the 50 HIV cases per day were twice the number of cases recorded in 2022.

“We’ve kind of doubled from the previous year of about 22 new cases a day. We increased to 50 new cases a day. So we’re one of the highest, so there’s a lot of eyes looking at what we will do to actually prevent continued spread,” he added.

Despite this, Herbosa stressed that the country still has “very low incidents” with less than 1% of the population being people living with HIV.

HIV subvariant

Herbosa also said he talked with infectious diseases expert Dr. Edsel Salvana who told him that a new HIV subvariant which is more infectious is causing the increase in cases.

“He’s telling me there’s a new subvariant. There's a new variant that’s quite more infectious and this is the reason we’re finding this increase in cases. And he’s telling me it's been happening even before. We’re now just detecting it because we're concentrating so much on COVID-19,” he said.

In April, a DOH official said that HIV cases in the country are projected to reach 364,000 by 2030.

At a news forum, Noel Palaypayon, the Unit Head and Supervising Health Program Officer of the National HIV & STI Surveillance and Strategic Information Unit of the DOH - Epidemiology Bureau, said the average daily cases is at 47.

This led to 112,028 reported cases from 1984 to February 2023.

“The estimated people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Philippines by 2030 are projected to reach 364,000, and nearly half of the new infections will be among the youth aged 15-24 years old,” he said.

But Herbosa said the Health Department is hoping that HIV cases would alleviate and slow down with better testing, better education, and prevention of risky behaviors among the youth. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News