Pandemic hardly curbed 'risky behaviors' leading to HIV cases

• Published date: 02 December 2022
• Publication title: Philippines Daily Inquirer

The COVID-19 pandemic stalled efforts to control the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to the Department of Health (DOH), as it noted that the health crisis and ensuing lockdowns hardly deterred 'risky behaviors' that lead to HIV infections.

Dr. Jose Gerard Belimac, division chief of the DOH Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, said a DOH survey had revealed that the coverage of the government's HIV prevention programs declined during the pandemic's first year while high-risk behavior among key populations also persisted.

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Citing the survey, he said the available prevention package that includes HIV testing, access to condoms and information on HIV awareness and prevention, decreased to 17 percent in 2020 from 26 percent in 2019.

'The big drop of prevention coverage was [in terms of] access of people to HIV testing because no one really [went out] of their homes to get tested or at least offer community-based testing at homes,' Belimac said.And despite the pandemic, he said, there was 'no change in the risky behaviors of people.'

Unprotected sex

Those behaviors include unprotected sex or nonuse of condoms during sexual contact, having multiple sex partners and sharing of contaminated needles among people who inject drugs. HIV is also transmitted from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy.

The DOH identifies men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender men and women as the sectors most at risk for HIV infection.

Belimac said the survey findings prompted the DOH to craft a national HIV and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) plan because 'we were worried back then that there were few people … who are undergoing ART (antiretroviral therapy).' ART is a prescribed medication regimen for people living with HIV-or PLHIV-to slow down their progression to AIDS, the...