Garin: No need to declare emergency amid rise in HIV cases
Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin — Photo from House of Representatives/Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — There is no need to declare a public health emergency despite the rise in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections as the issue can be addressed by making medicines available and accessible, Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin said on Wednesday.
Garin, a former health secretary, said in a statement that the people also need to get more information and constant reminders on how to avoid HIV.
“We really don’t need to declare a public health emergency but what we need here is a constant reminder. Declaring national health emergency will not make any difference,” Garin said.
According to Garin, public health emergencies are only declared if you need more funds and resources to combat a health threat. However, the lawmaker said existing measures are already available against HIV.
“You only declare a public health emergency when you need to find new funds, mobilize resources, and intensify global collaboration,” she said.
“First of all, this rise in the cases of HIV, we have expected it to increase, not because it was low before, but because we already have high incidence without having people tested. The availability of tests, the awareness of the people, that is what drives cases up,” she added.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health reported that HIV cases have risen sharply, surging by 500 percent. According to the DOH, there may be a need to declare a national public health emergency.
DOH said the number of confirmed HIV cases per day reached 57 from January to March this year, which is currently the highest in the Western Pacific Region.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa warned that the “bigger” problem of the country was not monkeypox, but HIV. According to the DOH chief, almost all of the monkeypox fatalities in the country died not due to mpox, but because of complications caused by advanced HIV.
“The DOH is proposing to declare HIV a National Public Health Emergency due to the 500 percent increase in HIV cases in the country,” the department added.
READ: HIV cases in PH surge 500%, prompting DOH call for health emergency
In line with this, the DOH urged the public to get HIV tests, which are free and confidential.
But Garin said that the government should also focus on removing the stigma surrounding the disease.
Our constant reminder — no to stigma, no to discrimination and explore ways to protect each other so that we can limit the number of people who would test positive,” she noted.
HIV infection leads to a condition where a body’s immune system breaks down or weakens, to the point that it could no longer fight even mild illnesses. While HIV is not yet curable, there have been many success stories where patients undergo antiretroviral therapy or ART — preventing HIV infection from progressing to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is oftentimes fatal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the symptoms of HIV infection vary depending on the stage or severity, with many people in the initial stages of infection unaware that they contracted the virus. In the first few weeks after infection, patients may experience an influenza-like illness including fever, headache, rash or sore throat.
Further progression of the ailment would yield symptoms like lymph nodes, weight loss or wasting, fever, diarrhea, and cough. HIV can be transmitted, WHO said, through “the exchange of a variety of body fluids from infected people, such as blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal secretions.”
DOH and WHO have repeatedly clarified that acquiring HIV is not a death sentence anymore, as there are HIV-positive patients who are able to maintain normal lives due to medication, without fear that their ailment progresses into AIDS. However, it is important for people to get tested, especially those who are at higher risk. /das
