World AIDS Day

(The Philippine Star) Updated December 01, 2010 

Since Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was first diagnosed some three decades ago and World AIDS Day was launched in 1988, the emphasis of the annual observance has been the same:
raising public awareness of the potentially fatal disease, improving education and fighting prejudice against the infected. This year’s theme is “Universal Access and Human Rights.”

The campaign has not stopped HIV from infecting an estimated 33.3 million people so far around the globe, including 2.5 million children who got the virus mostly from infected parents. Records show that most of the victims are from low- and middle-income countries. Last year alone, 2.6 million new infections were recorded, with 1.8 million people dying of AIDS.

From 1984 to October this year, 5,729 HIV cases were recorded in the Philippines, with 852 progressing into full-blown AIDS. This makes the country among those with low HIV prevalence. There is no room for complacency, however, in dealing with the disease. Of the 5,729 cases, 1,305 were reported this year alone. Whether this is due to better diagnosis and reporting or a real increase in HIV prevalence is not certain. But the increase emphasizes the need for continued vigilance in preventing the spread of HIV.

A positive development as World AIDS Day is observed today is the easing of the Vatican’s hard-line stance against the use of condoms. Pope Benedict XVI’s recent statement, however reluctantly given, that condom use could be allowed to prevent the spread of HIV, for example among prostitutes, is a major boost to the campaign for safe sex.

The Pope’s statement is also a boon to the decision of the Philippine government to resume the distribution of condoms in public health centers. The statement is an acknowledgment of the need to save people from a debilitating, deadly disease. In the decades-long battle against AIDS, this is progress.