Orgies raise cases to high levels – DOH

The Philippines posted its highest ever increase in the number of new HIV infections in January and the number is expected to increase even further in the near future, a Department of Health (DOH) official has said on Friday.

Despite the continuing campaign against HIV and AIDS, cases of people acquiring the dreaded disease also continues to rise in Cebu.

According to the Department of Health in Central Visayas, a total of 266 HIV positive cases and six full-blown AIDS cases were recorded in Cebu, including Cebu City, from January to November last year.

Cebu City Health Department records show there were 140 HIV/AIDS cases in the city in 2011 while there were 182 cases in 2010.

“Intravenous drug use is still the highest mode of transmission in the tri-cities,” Dr. Asuncion Anden, regional director of the DOH, told Cebu Daily News yesterday.

She also echoed a national DOH statistic that shows male to male sex has become the predominant mode of sexual transmission.

“Those people who are infected know and understand how to acquire HIV, but they are still doing it.

Health Assistant Secretary Enrique Tayag said the DOH recorded 380 new HIV cases in the country in January—the highest increase since the government began monitoring HIV/AIDS cases in 1984—even as many sexually-active Filipinos continue to avoid having themselves tested for the virus.

Timothy’s story

As a young nurse, he would have wanted to achieve more goals.

But Timothy (not his real name) got infected with HIV after he had sex with a male foreigner in the United States of America. He was 21 years old then.

In 2007, Timothy consulted with Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer who helped him go through the ill-effects of the disease.

“The hardest part is acceptance,” Bullecer told Cebu Daily News.

He said Timothy’s days were counted but the latter expressed his willlingness to change his ways.

“He (Timothy) said he wanted his body to be cleansed spiritually. He was hoping that his life will serve as a lesson for others,” Bullecer said.

Timothy, an active homosexual who worked in the US for five years, died in 2009. He was among about 200 patients with HIV of Bullecer.

“What I do is offer counselling and provide spiritual guidance to them. I’m happy that all my patients, during their last years, were transformed. It’s a good thing,” Bullecer said.

He said most of his patients acquired HIV through sexual intercourse. Of his 200 patients, about 150 of them were male.

Bullecer, country director of Human Life International (HLI), said the distribution and use of condoms is not proper way to address the spread of HIV.

“AIDS is a behavorial disease. The best way to address it is change in lifestyle. The teachings of the Church and morality should come into the picture,” he said.

Bullecer said one should be reminded that using condoms has its ill-effects. “Condoms are not 100 percent effective. It has limitations. In promoting condoms, one likewise promotes promiscuity aside from you’re not giving 100 percent protection to the person who uses it,” he said. “HIV has ben with us for the past 32 years. There is no drug or medicine that can cure it. All we can do is prevention through ‘abstinence, be faithful, and common sense. Once you get it, there is no second chance,” he added.

Bullecer said the reported increase in HIV cases in the country can be seen in two ways.

“Maybe, Filipinos are aware about the danger HIV brings. Maybe, there are more individuals who submitted themselves under HIV tests. (But) I’m afraid that it (report on the increase of HIV cases) will be used to send a message that there is an epidemic of HIV that’s why we need to push for the use of condoms,” Bullecer said.

He surmised that the reported increase of HIV cases is being used to justify the Reproductive Health Law and to pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill.

Bullecer said some government agencies are no longer anxious about promoting the use of condoms since the RH Law is “already in place.”

But even before the controversial bill was enacted into law, Bullecer said Health Assistant Secretary Tayag already openly campaigned for the use of condoms.

He said he was not surprised about Tayag’s advise for “sexually-active Filipinos” to carry and use condoms as HIV cases in the country increases. “He (Tayag) even personally distributed condoms to the public on Feb. 14, 2012,” he said.

Bullecer urged the Catholic Church to intensify its campaign against the use of condoms even it is allowed in the the RH Law. “The Church has to insists among its members. It’s teachings should be felt among its flock,” he said.

In the Middle East, especially in Muslim countries, Bullecer said cases of HIV are low. “That’s because Muslim countries are strict in its moral teachings,” he said. Bullecer said one could not just set aside morality in dealing with HIV. “We are Christians. We should be reminded that we are not just composed of body. We also have a soul to be saved. We are created in the image and likeness of God,” he said./With Inquirer