THE Department of Health (DOH) has called for public vigilance over the increasing number of newly-diagnosed Advanced HIV Disease (AHD) cases in the country.
The DOH issued the call during the 16th Plenary Meeting of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) held on Friday.
According to the DOH, there have been 40,934 reported cases of ADH as of last August, representing 30 percent of all cumulative cases since 1984, indicating severe health risks.
The DOH also said the Philippines has experienced the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific.
As reported by the HIV/AIDS and Antiretroviral Therapy Registry of the Philippines in 2023, there were 48 newly diagnosed cases recently, a remarkable increase from 13 daily cases in 2013. The incidence went even higher to 58 per day in the second quarter of 2024.
Furthermore, diagnosed HIV patients are getting younger, with the predominant age group shifting from 35-49 years old in 2002 to 2005, to 25-34 years old starting 2006 onwards.
The World Health Organization defined advanced HIV disease (AHD) as “CD4 cell count < 200 cells/mm3 or WHO stage 3 or 4 in adults and adolescents. All children younger than five years of age are considered to have advanced HIV disease.
This includes both individuals presenting to care who are antiretroviral therapy (ART) naive, and those returning to care after interrupted treatment.”
The global health authority noted that people with AHD are at high risk of death, even after starting ART; the fatality risk increases with decreasing CD4 cell count. The most common causes of severe illness and death are tuberculosis, severe bacterial infections and cryptococcal meningitis.
The DOH stated that late diagnosis contributed to the rise in the number of recorded HIV deaths, logging 8,246 deaths cumulatively since 1984.
Moreover, annual fatalities have also continuously increased from less than 100 before 2011, to more than 400 by 2015 and reaching 879 in 2022.
The majority of the recorded deaths occurred among males aged 25-34 years, with more than half (53%) being caused by complications from being immunocompromised or having AHD.
From January to August 2024, 464 deaths among HIV cases have been recorded, from which 28 occurred in the month of August alone.
The DOH also noted that this October, a person suffering from HIV died in Cagayan Valley, six years after being diagnosed. The patient had several medical conditions related to a very high HIV viral load and resistance to ARV.
The patient did not have a follow up ARV intake and treatment. Moreover, the patient was admitted to hospital last September 9 as a confirmed case of mpox, but the DOH noted that it was not mpox that caused his death.
