Spiked HIV cases alarming

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines is urging the government to declare a national emergency over the human immunodeficiency virus following an increase in the incidence of the deadly disease in the country.

The Philippines now ranks seventh among the countries in the world with an increasing incidence of HIV cases. The top six are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

“We are calling on the Department of Health to declare a national epidemic on the spread of HIV that leads to AIDS,” Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, said in a statement.

“Let us come out from our complacency and face this battle head on by fully implementing stand-by strategies in order to stop this growing burden. Let’s us fight the spread of disease before it gets to our children.”

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Tuesday said she was supporting the TUCP’s call on the government to declare a national emergency over the HIV epidemic.

She also called on private employers to promote healthy lifestyles in the workplaces following an increase in the number of Filipinos contracting work-related diseases, including HIV-AIDS.

“The department seeks to promote a healthy lifestyle through the 40-hour on-line version of the Basic Safety and Health Training Course. The course is mandatory for all safety officers of the Labor Department,” Baldoz said.

“We want more workers to be aware of the ways they can promote a healthy lifestyle in their workplaces.”

The TUCP hopes the government will mount an aggressive intervention program by mobilizing its resources in coping with the growing problem.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said that, in the 2014 Global AIDS Response Progress Report to be submitted by the Philippine government to the United Nations, the country had failed this early to meet the 2015 target of reducing the spread of HIV.

The report was prepared by the Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center, and it says that out of the 1,115 sex workers tested within the first four months of 2014 alone, 20 or 1.8 percent were found to have an HIV infection compared with only 26 or 0.275 percent out of the 9,797 tested for the whole of 2012.

The report also shows that out of the 4,804 men that had sex with men, 160 or 3.3 percent were found to have been infected within the first quarter of the year compared with only 90 or 1.68 percentout of the 5,353 who were tested for the whole of 2012.

Among the people injecting themselves with drugs, meanwhile, 401 or 46.1 percent out of the 869 who were tested were infected with HIV during the first quarter of the year. In contrast, only 13.56 percent or 174 had HIV out of the 1,283 tested for the whole year two years ago.

The other most-at-risk and vulnerable populations were the people living with people infected with HIV and the Filipinos working abroad. Manila Standard

DOH urged to declare ‘national emergency’ over HIV spread

MANILA, Philippines—The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) called on the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday to declare a national emergency over the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).The group made the call amid an increase in cases among key vulnerable populations in the country.

“We are calling on the Department of Health to declare a national epidemic on the spread of HIV that leads to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

“Let us come out from our complacency and face this battle head on by fully implementing stand-by strategies in order to stop this growing burden,” said Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).

The labor group said a comprehensive solution to stop the spread of HIV should follow the declaration of a national emergency on the disease.

“By such declaration, government can carry out an aggressive and surefire intervention by mobilizing its massive political and economic resources in coping with the growing problem on the spread of the virus,” TUCP said.

From 1984 until March 2014, there are already 17,948 HIV cases with 1,652 already considered as AIDS as recorded by the DOH – National Epidemiology Center (NEC).

In March 2014 alone, 498 new HIV cases were recorded, including 53 developing into full-blown AIDS cases.
If not adequately addressed, the labor group said the daily HIV case rate in the country could go from 16 to 32 infections.
“From our point of view, it is very obvious now that HIV threat poses a clear and present danger to our people especially on key affected populations and most vulnerable sectors. Government must now aggressively intervene before it creeps out of control,” said the TUCP.

Sought for comment, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, the Department of Health, said it might be too early to make such a declaration.
“We are not disregarding all concerns regarding HIV but have to look into the issue first because there are many consequences if a national emergency is declared. Before we get into that, there might be some other things we need to look into,” Lee Suy said.

Citing the DOH’s HIV/AIDS program. the health official also assured the public that the government has not been remiss in its responsibilities in fighting the HIV spread.

The DOH said it has been seriously pushing for the conduct of a mandatory HIV testing among high-risk groups, including female sex workers (FSWs), males having sex with males (MSMs), injecting drug users (IDUs), and those who will undergo operational, like pregnant women.

Meanwhile, some HIV positive patients have been insisting that there has been a shortage of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs contrary to the assurance given earlier by the DOH that there is enough supply of the medicines.
ARV treatment is a combination of medications given to HIV-positive patients to delay the progression of the infection and the onset of full-blown AIDS.

Several HIV patients in the country are receiving free ARV drugs from the various treatment hubs all over the country.
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, was the primary source of the free ARV supplies for infected individuals like those in the Philippines.

One of the patients, Boy Positibo, a 25-year-old resident of Quezon City, claimed that the lack of ARV supply, particularly Tenofovir, prompted him to switch to another ARV, Zidovudine, which used to make him anemic.

“It’s difficult to switch meds because of side effects. Each tablet has its own side effect, you just have to find what suits you,” he said. “Before Tenofovir I took Zidovudine but I had anemia, so I switched to Tenofovir. Now I had to switch back to Zidovudine because of the lack of supply of Tenofovir.”

He said he was told by his doctor that the switch was just temporary while waiting for the supply of Tenofovir.

Boy Positibo, who was diagnosed as HIV positive in September 2011, said he knew of several other members of the HIV community in the same situation.

He added that the usual three-month AREV supply of a person living with HIV (PLHIV), was cut down to a month or even a 15-day supply. He said he started experiencing the shortage about three months ago.

“As far as the HIV community is concerned, there is a shortage kasi hindi sya nakakarating sa amin (the medicines do not reach us),” Boy Positibo said, adding that they couldn’t get the ARV drugs — being commercially unavailable — anywhere else.
“I understand that the DOH is doing their best, but please also understand that our life depends on those tablets. We just want to alarm the government so that next time, it won’t happen again. I hope the DOH will take cognizance of the hassle of going back and forth at treatment hubs just to get medication,” Boy Positibo said.

In a previous interview, Lee Suy assured that the problem has been addressed.

“Actually it didn’t reach the point of having a shortage. Based on our guidelines, we should be maintaining a certain level or amount of the medicine. It almost got to that point, but it has already been addressed,” he said, explaining that problem stemmed from the delayed delivery of the supply.

“[The problem] was more on logistics, but it’s not a major concern. We have enough medicines,” Lee Suy added.
But in an interview on Tuesday, Lee Suy pledged to check on the reported shortage of ARV drugs.

“I will check on that because as far as I know we have already provided the medicines and there is no problem as far as the supply is concerned. I would have to validate the report,” Lee Suy said. - Inquirer

DOH rejects call to declare HIV emergency

THE Department of Health (DOH) dismissed on Tuesday the call of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) for a national emergency to be declared over the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country.

In an interview, DOH spokesman Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy said TUCP’s call could be premature.

“We acknowledge naman yung problema ng HIV/Aids na talagang mataas but then before we get into a national emergency, there might be some other things we can do,” said Lee Suy.

“We're not totally saying na it would fit into the national emergency, but we have to look into the issue first because maraming consequences,” he said.

According to the DOH official, the government has not been remiss of its responsibilities in combating the HIV spread.

The DOH has been strongly pushing for its ABC program versus HIV/Aids, which stands for Abstinence, Be faithful, and Condom use. It is also considering the idea of conducting mandatory HIV testing among high-risk groups.

Among the high-risk groups identified by the DOH are female sex workers (FSWs), males having sex with males (MSMs), injecting drug users (IDUs), and overseas foreign workers (OFWs).

In the 2014 Global Aids Response Progress Report to be submitted by Philippine Government to the United Nations, the TUCP said the country has failed this early to meet the 2015 target of reducing HIV spread.

Based on the report prepared by DOH’s National Epidemiology Center (NEC) about HIV monitoring and survey they conducted on key affected populations, it was learned that out of the 1,115 sex workers tested within the first four months of 2014 alone, 20 or 1.8 percent of them were found to have HIV infection, compared to only 26 or .275 percent out of 9,797 tested for the whole year in 2012.

The report also shows that out of 4,804 men having sex with men, 160 or 3.3 percent of them are found to have been infected within the first quarter of the year, compared to only 90 or 1.68 percent with HIV out of 5,353 for the whole year in 2012.

Among the people who inject drugs, meanwhile, 401 or 46.1 percent out of 869 were infected with HIV during the first quarter of the year while only 13.56 percent or 174 of them have HIV out of 1,283 tested two years ago.

From 1984 to March 2014, there were 17,948 HIV/Aids cases as recorded by the NEC.

The Philippines is one of the seven countries in the world with increasing incidence of HIV cases. The other countries are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (HDT/Sunnex)

Government to probe alleged leak of Qatar state secrets to PH

by Aurea Calica, The Philippine Star

MANILA - The government will look into allegations that state secrets of Qatar were passed to the Philippine government through three Filipinos, one of whom was sentenced to death.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio dzRB yesterday that the Department of National Defense (DND) would be the one to respond to the report.

The DND yesterday gave assurance that it would look into the case.

“Definitely we will look into this. But we could not issue any statement until we are fully aware of the case,” said DND spokesman Peter Paul Galvez.

The Armed Forces of the Philippine also declined to comment on the allegation, saying it is the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that has jurisdiction over cases involving overseas Filipino workers.

Valte said the government would help the OFW who was sentenced to death for espionage and economic sabotage in Qatar as well as the two others who were meted life sentences.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose did not identify the accused Filipinos but said the one sentenced to death was an employee of a state-owned company, while two others were technicians in a military base.

The three OFWs were accused of providing military and economic information to intelligence officials in the Philippines. These include data on Qatar’s aircraft, weaponry, maintenance and servicing records, and details about the names, ranks and phone numbers of staff members.

Reports said details about a major Qatari company’s investment projects and upcoming contracts were also leaked.

Jose said the sentences were handed down on April 20. “A lawyer assisted them throughout the lower court proceedings and the verdict was appealed before Qatar’s court of appeals last May 4,” he said.

“Normally, the DFA, through our embassy in that particular place, will make representation for or will...render legal assistance to lower the death sentence (so he will) not be executed,” Valte said.

The labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday urged the government to extend all help to the OFW who was sentenced to death.

Special team sought

In a text message, TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said the government should not waste time in getting the worker from the death chamber.

“We urge the Philippine government to set up a special team to exhaust all legal and diplomatic intervention toward saving our countrymen from high sentence,” he added.

Jose said “our embassy will continue to extend assistance to them as long as necessary.”

The STAR tried to get the side of the Department of Labor and Employment, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

But key officials of these agencies were attending the 7th Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers in Kuwait. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Jaime Laude