Aids alarms health officials

The alarm should have been sounded in the province, especially the capital town of Ipil, as health officials observed a continuous increase of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome cases in this highly urbanized city of Zamboanga.

Dulce Amor Miravite, chief of the City Health Office’s Reproductive Health and Wellness Center, said the office registered 177 HIV cases with 25 deaths in the past few years.

One-hundred sixty-one of those cases were males.

One-hundred thirty-one of the cases were from the city while the remaining 29 others are transients.

The 29 transients are believed to have originated in neighboring provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay.

This as the Municipal Health Office (MHO) of Ipil admitted to have difficulty in monitoring possible HIV-infected persons in the locality.

Last year, one person was diagnosed as HIV-positive. But the person did not report for subsequent sessions.

Records showed that 2015 had the highest incidence as it registered 51 HIV cases with five deaths even as the health office had strengthened its advocacy against HIV and AIDS, focusing its activities on the sitios, barangays and public and private offices.

Most of the current HIV-AIDS patients acquired the disease through, among others, men having sex with men, client of sex workers, female sex workers, male sex workers, and injecting drug users.

Also, men having sex with men is the most high-risk behavior that could lead to acquiring HIV.

Persons with high-risk behavior are advised to seek professional help and to voluntarily undergo HIV testing “so that they will know their status and what to do next.” (AMM)

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