MANILA - At his free clinic at Philippine General Hospital, infectious disease doctor Edsel Salvana is trying to make an impact on what he says is the country’s emerging HIV crisis. 

Salvana has seen a recent rise in HIV/AIDS cases, having diagnosed 12 cases of HIV between June and July alone.  His youngest patient was 21 years old.

“Basically what we have is an epidemic,” said Salvana. “You can't call it anything other than an epidemic, because a spike in the usual number of cases, that’s how you characterize an epidemic." 

"And there's no other way to describe the Philippines HIV/AIDS situation except as an epidemic situation.  That’s what it is," she said.

The Department of Health reports that there has been an increase in diagnosed HIV/AIDs cases every year since 2000. 

A total of 629 new cases were reported in the first ten months of 2009, which is more cases than were reported in the entirety of 2008. 

A total of 4,218 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in the Philippines since 1984.

No official declaration

An official declaration of an epidemic has not been made. 

In a phone interview with ABS-CBN, Joane Corbe, the Health Education and Promotion Officer at the Philippine National AIDS Council, said that the Department of Health is currently reviewing HIV/AIDS-related data and will release its findings later this month.
 
“It’s still sort of an abstract concept for most people because 4,000 cases in a country of 88 million people, that’s still a vanishingly small number,” said Salvana. 

“But I think if we don't step up a campaign right now, then this is going to get out of hand," she added.

Salvana, who received HIV-related training in the United States, compares the Philippine HIV situation to “San Francisco in the 1980’s,” when a lack of information about the disease allowed an epidemic to emerge in that city.  

Awareness

In addition to more training for doctors and more medical equipment, Salvana believes government and non-government organizations need to find additional ways to inform the public about the disease.

According to patient and activist Wanggo Gallaga, who in September participated in a fundraising campaign for Salvana’s clinic, many Filipinos are looking for information about HIV, but do not always know where to find it. 

“Prior to getting HIV, I myself didn’t know anything about it,” said Gallaga, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2008, and shortly thereafter, started talking openly about the disease. 

“I had no idea there were drugs available that could help maintain your lifespan, I had no idea the numbers, the exact numbers that were going on," Gallaga said.

Evolving culture

According to Corbe, the Philippine National AIDS Council is working to raise awareness about the disease on both a national and local level, but she says the effect of the Council’s current intervention methods will not be seen for 3 to 5 years.

“The culture is also evolving,” said Corbe, noting that the rise of HIV may be the result of changes in the sexual behavior of Filipinos, possibly prompted by globalization. 

She also pointed out that the Philippine National AIDS Council has had to address the concerns of faith-based organizations as it spreads awareness about the sexually transmitted disease.
 
“Since we’re a Catholic conservative country, people are not very open to talking about sex, their sexual habits ,” said Gallaga, who has been involved with activist groups like Positivism and regularly blogs on his Multiply site about his battle with HIV . 

“We have to break through that before we start talking about the real issues," Gallaga said. Report by Beth Morrissey.