All of the 53 children and teenagers who were diagnosed as human immunodeficiency virus-positive in January “were infected through sexual contact,” said Patrixia Santos, a volunteer of Project Red Ribbon which helps children with HIV.
“Heartbreaking. They are not just statistics. They are children and youngsters. They and others their age need reproductive health education. They need our compassion and care,” Santos said.
“Details of how they got infected are serious causes for concern and continuing action,” she added.
Of the new cases, 46 involved teenagers aged 18 to 19 years old, while seven were 15 to 17 years old.
Forty-five of them had male to male sex, five had sex with both males and females, while three had male-female heterosexual intercourse, according to the January 2019 report of the HIV-AIDS Registry of the Philippines.
“We really need early detection and testing. We need timely and caring intervention to rescue them from the situations and environment that led to their getting infected,” Santos said.
“At the end of the day, it’s not the virus or the disease that kills people—it’s the hatred, it’s the discrimination against them because that’s the very reason they do not test and that’s the very reason why it is (the virus) is being transmitted,” she added.