Solon backs Pope on condom use to fight AIDS

Press Release
November 22, 2010

QUEZON CITY  –  Pope Benedict XVI's declaration favoring the use of condoms to halt the spread of AIDS will go a long way in promoting safe sex among Filipinos, Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said Monday.

Barzaga said the use of both male and female condoms would surely mitigate the grave public health risks associated with AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

"The Pope is absolutely right. Unless we aggressively encourage the use of condoms, we risk losing a greater number of otherwise able-bodied Filipinos to AIDS in the years ahead," Barzaga said.

"If we examine the statistics closely, the AIDS-causing HIV is definitely spreading here at an alarming rate," he pointed out.

"From a monthly average of only 44 new HIV cases diagnosed two years ago, we now have a monthly average of 133 new infections getting detected," Barzaga added.

In the whole of 2008, a total of only 528 new HIV cases were reported, or a monthly average of just 44.

In the whole of 2009, a total of 835 new HIV cases were listed, or a monthly average of 70.

From January to September this year, however, the monthly average new cases discovered soared to 133.

Citing a report by the National AIDS Registry, Barzaga said a total of 1,201 new HIV cases have thus far been diagnosed in the nine months to September this year. "In September alone, the 153 new HIV cases reported was nearly three times the 56 cases in September 2009," Barzaga said.

The 153 new cases in September also brought to 5,625 the cumulative number of Filipinos found infected with HIV since passive surveillance began in 1984.

"Considering that our surveillance system is passive, there's really no telling how many new HIV cases are left undiagnosed and unreported every month," Barzaga said.

He noted that of the aggregate 5,625 HIV cases detected in the country, 90 percent or 5,027 were found infected through sexual contact.