PH logs 1,454 new HIV cases in January; number of infected adolescents, kids up

By Willie Casas

The Philippines has logged 1,454 new HIV cases in January or an average of 46 cases per day, the Department of Health (DOH) reported. Of the total reported cases, 79 were adolescents aged 10 to 19 years old and 7 were children less than 10 years old, the DOH said. Almost all of the reported adolescent cases acquired HIV through sexual contact, except one case with no data on the mode of transmission. Those children aged 2 to 9 at the time of diagnosis acquired the disease through vertical transmission or mother-to-child transmission while 1 had no data on the mode of transmission. The report said 444 of the reported cases in January were among the youth aged 15 to 24, of which 96 were reported to have advanced HIV infection. Meanwhile, 76 of the total reported cases were Filipinos who worked overseas within the past 5 years, whether on land or at sea.

In January, 138 of the newly reported cases were also engaged in transactional sex within the past 12 months.

Based on the January 2023 HIV/AIDS & ART Registry of the Philippines, some 1,383 cases or 95 percent were male while 71 or 5 percent were female.

A majority acquired HIV through sexual contact wherein male-to-male sex is the most common with 998 cases. There were 6 who acquired HIV through mother-tochild transmission and 3 through sharing of infected needles.

The DOH said the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, and Western Visayas were the “regions with the most number of newly reported cases”.

These regions comprise 69 percent of the total number of cases. In January 2023, there were also 39 reported deaths due to any cause among people diagnosed with HIV.

Since the first reported HIV infection in the country in 1984, there have been 110,736 confirmed HIV cases and 6,383 reported deaths recorded to the HARP.

LTO IT platform blamed on plate number mess

TWO vehicles bearing the same plate number are registered in the foreign-made information technology (IT) platform of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) - the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS).

This was discovered when a private vehicle owner from Cebu City, Cecil Labang was barred from renewing the registration of her Toyota Avanza with plate number NEU 1976.

According to media reports, Labang sought the assistance of the Highway Patrol Group-Central Visayas (HPG7) after the LTO found in its database that another Toyota Avanza but with a different color carried the same plate number as hers. Labang purchased her vehicle through an auto dealer in Cebu City last year and was able to register it with the LTO.

Meanwhile, the other vehicle owner who refused to divulge his identity, claimed that he also bought his vehicle from the same auto trader. He only learned that his plate number was registered with another vehicle when his application for an RFID sticker to access the Cebu- Cordova Link Expressway was denied due to a double entry of plate number.

The HPG-7 initially reported that the double plate incident is a possible scheme of criminals from Luzon and that one of the two vehicles might be stolen.