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BORACAY – Awareness is one of the best ways to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB), advocates and health officials said.
An information caravan on the diseases was held in this island on Thursday, Dec. 1 in observance of the World AIDS Day themed “Creating Alliance and Strengthening the Fight to Stop TB, HIV and AIDS.”
“Spreading correct information is one way to stop the spread of HIV and TB,” said Provincial Health Officer Adrian Cuachon.
Boracay, being a world-famous tourist destination, is particularly vulnerable to such diseases, Cuachon stressed.
Health workers, health and business sector representatives, advocates, and island residents participated in the caravan.
The Municipal Health Office of Malay, the town with jurisdiction over the island resort, distributed condoms to tourists and residents as its way to promote safe sex, an HIV-prevention measure.
In Aklan, the number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) was increasing.
Provincial Health Office records showed Aklan now has 81 PLHIV, including 20 with full-blown AIDS and 61 with asymptomatic infection. In 2015 the province had only 71 HIV/AIDS cases.
Across Western Visayas, there were now 1,357 HIV/AIDS recorded cases.
TB cases in the region were also rising, with 12,766 recorded as of the second quarter. In Aklan, 859 TB cases were detected so far this year.
TB is an opportunistic infection for PLHIV, said Adrian Hort Ramos, a technical staffer for the national TB program in Region 6.
“Fifty percent of HIV patients die of TB,” Ramos said.
TB is the leading cause of death among PLHIV worldwide, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
It is a serious threat, especially for people living with HIV/AIDS, because both infections can work together to make a person very sick, according to the American advocacy website AIDS.gov.
A person living with HIV for five years now encouraged the caravan participants to help end the stigma against HIV patients.
Faustine Luell Angeles, also a founder of Pedal for HIV, is travelling around the Philippines to encourage the vulnerable sector to get tested.
“If we end the stigma, more people will be able to get tested early,” Angeles said, adding that early detection is one way to prevent AIDS. (With Philippine News Agency/PN)
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