LGUs urged to fund AIDS treatment

BAGUIO CITY—Humphrey Gorriceta has one big worry: Where to get his next dose of Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to manage his HIV infection.

Gorriceta, 35, the national spokesperson of the National Federation of Filipinos Living with HIV, is one of 1,000 Filipinos on ARV, courtesy of a grant from the Global Fund. The fund is an international organization extending grants to various countries to help address HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

“Our government is not ready to take on the responsibility of providing ARV therapy, which is very costly,” Gorriceta said during the Baguio celebration of World AIDS Day on Friday.

He said Global Fund was suspending its grant to the Philippines starting next year. The Philippines has been a recipient of a $190.7-million grant this year.

According to www.theglobalfund.org, the donor group’s website, $23.95 million was allotted for HIV-AIDS prevention and therapy, $92.57 million for tuberculosis, and $74.17 million for malaria treatment.

Gorriceta said he was uncertain if the Global Fund grant suspension would affect the tuberculosis and malaria projects next year.

When asked, he said HIV-support groups were not privy to the reasons Global Fund would suspend its funding for the Philippines.

But reports about similar grant suspensions in other countries showed that Global Fund had been concerned about cases of fund mismanagement, as well as the failure of these countries to qualify for performance evaluation standards.

City administrator Carlos Canilao pledged to relay Gorriceta’s concerns to Mayor Mauricio Domogan and the city council. There are six confirmed HIV cases in the summer capital. Five involve homosexuals.

“[Raising government funds for HIV treatments] would really require adjustments in the city’s budgetary allocations,” Canilao said.

Dr. Charles Cheng, president of the Baguio AIDS Watch Council (AWAC), said the city government has always supported its education and information campaign about HIV-AIDS.

This year, the city government released P250,000 for awareness-raising projects as well as the development of a library that contains various information about the disease, Cheng said.

There are fears that shouldering the ARV costs for the city’s six cases could be so enormous that it would diminish the allocation for preventive programs targeting other diseases like dengue, he said.

According to Cheng, the annual cost of ARV therapy for one person is $35,000 (P1,513,750). This meant that Baguio would need to allot $210,000 (P9,082,500) for 2012.

Dr. Celiaflor Brillantes, head of the Reproductive Health and Wellness Center of the city health office, has maintained the government’s weekly surveillance of commercial sex workers.

Brillantes said the city has about 1,500 regulated Baguio entertainers, who undergo weekly pap smear procedures that help detect HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. But not all commercial workers in the city are registered, she said.