Lawmaker reports 40 HIV-infected children

Forty children have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), said Rep. Harlin Neil Abayo III of party-list group Aangat Tayo, yesterday quoting Department of Health (DOH) data.

The DOH data showed that last January, an additional 1,021 Filipinos were found to be HIV-positive.

“Of these, 40 were children aged 10 to 19,” Abayo said, adding that all of them got infected with HIV through sexual intercourse.

Abayo said two contracted the virus through maleto-female sex, 25 via maleto-male contact, while 13 had sex with both male and female partners.

“As a registered nurse, I am deeply troubled by these figures because even post-millennial youth are getting infected with HIV through sexual intercourse,” Abayo said.

He stressed the data “are clear evidence requiring the full implementation of the Reproductive Health Law at the barangay level and with the involvement of schools and parent-teacher associations.”

DOH data also indicated regional patterns of HIV transmissions, Abayo said.

“Metro Manila is where 45 percent of all the HIV cases involved men having sex with men, while Central Visayas saw intravenous drug use as a mode of transmission as almost all the 17 sharing-of-needles cases last January were in Region 7,” he said.

He said in Central Luzon, HIV cases rose mostly from “paid sex.”

Earlier, Abayon reported that 68 overseas Filipino workers tested positive for HIV also in January.

There were also two children younger than 10 who got infected through mother-to-child transmission.