More than 90 persons who had engaged in transactional sex were found to have acquired the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in January, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
According to the latest Philippine HIV and AIDS Registry, of the 91 persons who contracted the disease following transactional sex, 50 said they paid for sex, while 33 said they accepted payment for sex and eight reported they had engaged in both.
This group accounted for 17 percent of the 536 new HIV cases reported to the DOH. Most of them, 91 percent, were male whose ages ranged from 18 to 55 while the rest were females aged between 21 and 45.
“People who engage in transactional sex are those who report that they regularly accept payment for sex, pay for sex, or do both,” noted the report.
Fifty-nine percent of the males who engaged in transactional sex said they paid for sex. Meanwhile, 75 percent of the females who engaged in this activity reported that they accepted payment for sex.
The DOH has recorded a total of 1,701 HIV cases for transactional sex since it started monitoring this “special population” in October 2012.
Of this number, 940 cases or 55 percent acquired HIV after paying for sex, 505 or 30 percent of them got sick after accepting payment for sex, while 256 or 15 percent, after engaging in both.
Other ‘special populations’
The other “special populations” being monitored by the health agency include children and adolescents and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The DOH reported that in January, no children under 10 years old were reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. But at least 18 adolescents aged 17 to 19 were reported infected through sexual contact.
At least 45 OFWs were reported to the registry, accounting for eight percent of the total newly diagnosed cases for January.
Earlier, the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) attributed the “fast and furious” rise of HIV cases in the Philippines to low condom use.
UNAIDS data showed that less than 40 percent of men-having-sex-with men used condoms, while only 65 percent of sex workers practiced safe sex, noting that both were lower than the target 80-percent condom use among most-at-risk groups.
People-living-with-HIV advocate Wanggo Gallaga has renewed calls for the immediate implementation of sex education in schools to help curb the spread of HIV through sexual practices.
“What we have to do is educate people properly. It has to start earlier. When it comes to health, the education is very shallow. They only teach biology in schools but we don’t talk about the consequences of sex,” Gallaga said.
HIV often leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is a deadly disease.