The Department of Health (DOH) said the rise in the number of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases among Filipino adolescents could become “tomorrow’s epidemic.”
On Wednesday, during the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) presentation of the “State of the World’s Children,” DOH National Epidemiology Center director Dr. Eric Tayag said that in 2010, one out of three HIV patients is from the 15-24 year old bracket.
The number of Filipino adolescents who are HIV-positive increased drastically in the last four years, from 44 cases in 2006 to 484 in 2010.
According to the UNICEF report, the Philippines is one of only seven countries where HIV cases increased by more than 25 percent from 2001 to 2009.
The highest number of new HIV cases was recorded in 2010, where1,591 new cases were reported.
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