2087 On ARV's

I just read this on PhilStar.com entitled DOH: 2,087 individuals with HIV Undergoing Medication by Sheila Crisostomo. (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=785894&publicationSubCategoryId=63 ). I hope you don’t mind me reposting this for the sake of our fellow pozzies who are reading my blogs.

Records of the Department of Health (DOH) showed that a total of 2,087 individuals infected with HIV are currently receiving free supplies of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) as of January 2012.

Gerard Belimac, program manager of the DOH’s National AIDS/Sexuality Transmitted Infection, said that although there are 8,576 HIV cases, including 975 patients with full-blown AIDS recorded from 1984 to January 2012, not all of them need ART.

“The 2,087 cases (represent) 95 percent requiring ART. The remaining five percent did not go back to their doctors after finding out that they are infected with HIV. It is much better if they can go regularly to our treatment hubs,” he said.

Susan Gregorio, head of the multi-agency Philippine National AIDS Council, said HIV patients should take ART if he has “opportunistic infections” that could worsen their condition.

Those with HIV are vulnerable to infections or illnesses that are called “opportunistic infections” because they take advantage of the weakening of the immune system. Tuberculosis and other pulmonary diseases are the most common opportunistic infections that hit an HIV patient.

Gregorio said that based on World Health Organization (WHO) standards, an HIV-infected individual should be placed on ART if his CD4 count, a measure of immune system strength, goes below 300 cells/mm3.

“It is important for those who are in these conditions to take ART because it will suppress the multiplication of the virus in their bodies,” she said. Otherwise, they will advance to AIDS.

Gregorio urged HIV-infected individuals to religiously go to treatment hubs every six months to closely monitor their conditions. The free ART are provided by the DOH and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international financing organization created to combat these three most devastating diseases in the world.

The treatment is available at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center, Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Jose B. Lingad Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Philippine General Hospital, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Makati Medical Center, The Medical City; Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, Western Visayas Medical Center, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, Zamboanga City Medical Center, and Southern Philippines Medical Center.

Patients undergoing ART would have to take the medication for life. They are given two tablets per day at a cost of P1,500 to P3,000 a month. Based on the DOH’s Philippines HIV and AIDS Registry, there were 212 new cases of HIV in January 2012, including four AIDS cases. One of the four AIDS cases was confirmed to be a seven-year-old boy who contracted the virus while he was in his mother’s womb. The boy has died. Of the 8,576 cases, 342 have died. A total of 7,854 got infected through sexual contact while 268 were through needle sharing among injecting drug users. Mother-to-child transmission accounted for 56 cases while blood transfusion for 20 cases. 

Well, Thanks for this article Sheila. I belong to the 2087 cases who take the ART (ARV's). Thank God! I am proud to say that I am healthy right now!

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