91 cases of HIV acquired via paid sex in January

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’