MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Health (DOH) has urged Filipinos afflicted with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which could lead to the fatal acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), to avail of the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs accessible in treatment centers before their condition got worse.
Dr. Jose Gerard Belimac, program manager of the DOH Philippine National AIDS Council, said a large number of patients who tested positive for HIV availed of the ARV therapy in the 19 treatment hubs in the country last year. However, an estimated eight percent of those eligible to get treatment did not avail of the drugs.
“These people who belong to the eight percent are those from the population at risk who either have yet to be tested for HIV or don’t want to come out in the open or are scared to know that they have the infection,” Belimac told reporters in an interview.
The population at risk are males having sex with males and injection drug users.
In 2014, 92 percent of HIV patients in need of ARV therapy were given treatment but about 3,000 more need to avail of the drug, the health department said.
Belimac urged these patients to get treatment and not wait for their condition to worsen.
He noted that some patients would go for the treatment when their CD4 or “T-cells” are already low. These type of white blood cells signals the body to fight the infection when they detect intruders like viruses or bacteria.
An HIV patient with a low CD4 count could experience many complications when they start with the ARV therapy, said the DOH official.
“The drug helps a patient’s immune system to recover so that during treatment, symptoms of other health complications brought about by HIV, such as tuberculosis, may begin to show,” he said.
Other sexually transmitted infections like syphilis may also flare up, he said.
“So these patients should not wait for their CD4 count to become so low before they get treatment,” said Belimac.
In 2013, the World Health Organization issued new HIV treatment guidelines, recommending that HIV patients be given early ARV therapy. Recent studies showed that early medical care will help patients have longer and healthier lives.
For this year, the DOH has allocated over P180 million for the procurement of ARV drugs intended to help approximately 22,000 Filipinos with HIV.
Based on the HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines, there were 9,113 HIV patients on ARV therapy as of February. The figure does not include patients who were previously taking ARV but have died, have left the country or opted not to take ARV anymore, according to the report.
From January to February this year, the DOH has recorded 1,182 new cases of HIV/AIDS cases. In February alone, 646 new cases were reported, the highest number reported in a month “in the history of HIV in the country,” the DOH said.