Living with HIV in the Philippines: Increasing HIV Cases and The Catholic Church

In the Philippines HIV AIDS advocates and the Catholic Church have become controversial in the past twenty years. The Catholic Church has been "blamed" for not responding to the Philippine HIV AIDS crisis or even trying to prevent the spread of AIDS due to its principled stand against wide scale condom distribution and the "condom solution" to HIV and AIDS. Recently, there were prominent religious leaders who have openly declared their opposition to the use of condoms for contraception or disease prevention even though a lot of health care providers workers feel they are currently the only means to stop the epidemic.

In the Philippines, HIV has had a relatively low incidence however it is rapidly and continuously rising. To this date, 10,242 HIV cases and that there are 10 cases of HIV being diagnosed everyday in the country. Up to now, there is an outcry for legislation for the passage of a reproductive health bill (RH Bill) for more than a decade, but the Catholic Church leaders have been fighting it even though the country is in desperate need of the care the legislation would guarantee. The population of the country is 80.9 percent Roman Catholic, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has been considered an obstacle against effective ways of fighting the AIDS epidemic.

The Philippines is one among seven countries in the world with a steady increase in AIDS cases.

This incidence of HIV increased more than 25 percent from 2001 to 2009. Other nations have had strategies and plans in place for years however in the Philippines the rapid change translates into a dangerous situation where only 20 percent of people ages 15 to 24 understand how to prevent HIV.

According to the World Health Organization, countries that implement 100 percent condom use contain epidemics and reverse the trend more quickly.

Watch this video, then you decide.