Department of Health on Thursday reported 1,383 newly diagnosed HIV cases and 65 newly reported deaths in the country as of October 2022. Ninety-six percent of the new cases were male.
This year’s World AIDS Day theme “Putting Ourselves to the Test, Achieving Equity to End HIV” calls for bold, urgent action to promote rights-based, community-led, and evidence-based HIV services including prevention, sexual and reproductive health services, HIV testing, treatment, care and support. “The ongoing HIV and AIDS epidemic in the country remains to be one of the long-standing issues requiring concerted action from all sectors of society. While the DOH strives to ensure continuous, unhampered provision of health services to all Filipinos, we also require the support of other sectors and stakeholders to cultivate a sustainable and supportive environment that is responsive to the needs of our vulnerable and key populations—such as our PLHIVs.
To realize the vision of zero new infection, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related death, the DOH emphasized that all stakeholders and partners, including community and civil society organizations, must act holistically–not just looking at health but also addressing its determinants—to end the HIV epidemic.