MANILA (Xinhua): The Philippines is confronting the fastest-rising human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region, with an average of 61 Filipinos diagnosed every day this year, up 22 per cent from last year, prompting urgent calls for more decisive national action.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier identified the Philippines, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea as the countries in the region where HIV infections continue to climb. It said the three now face some of the region's sharpest surges in new HIV infections.
Fiji has recorded a tenfold increase in cases over the past decade, driven mainly by injecting drug use, while Papua New Guinea declared HIV a national crisis in June amid spikes among women of reproductive age and children.
In the Philippines, new HIV infections have risen sixfold from 2010 to 2024, with the WHO estimating a 550 per cent jump from 4,400 cases in 2010 to 29,600 in 2024. Young men who have sex with men remain the most affected.
According to data from the Philippines' Department of Health, a total of 149,375 people had been registered with HIV as of September, including 5,583 new cases diagnosed between July and September. Of these new cases, 895 were already at an advanced stage of infection. Most new patients (95 per cent) were male, and one-third were aged 15 to 24.
Cases in 2025 ranged in age from 1 to 73, with a median age of 27. People aged 15 to 34 accounted for more than 70 per cent of new infections, reflecting a shift toward younger demographics.
An estimated 252,800 Filipinos will be living with HIV in 2025.
Monthly detections continue to climb, rising from an average of 1,435 cases in 2023 to 1,459 in 2024, and further to 1,731 in the third quarter of 2025, 17 per cent higher than the same period of last year. From July to September, 61 per cent of new diagnoses came from Metro Manila and the outlying regions of Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, and Davao in the southern Philippines.
Since 1984, when the country recorded its first HIV case, males have accounted for 94 per cent of all reported cases. Infections have increasingly shifted toward younger groups, with cases among those under 15 rising by 129 per cent in the past five years and those aged 15 to 24 increasing by 106 per cent.
Sexual contact remains the dominant mode of transmission, responsible for 96 per cent of all cases recorded since 1984. Among these, male-male sexual contact accounts for the majority, a pattern that persisted into the third quarter of 2025.
Although the proportion of patients presenting with advanced HIV has declined since 2021, total deaths continue to rise.
From July to September 2025, 125 deaths were reported, mostly among adults aged 25 to 34. Cumulatively, the country has recorded more than 500 deaths annually since 2016, and a total of 9,903 deaths since 1984.
Migrant workers make up 7 per cent of all diagnosed cases, nearly all attributable to sexual transmission. Reporting of transactional sex since 2012 has documented 17,577 cases, the vast majority involving men.
Public health advocates are urging expanded testing, youth-focused education, stronger community interventions, as well as greater support for treatment adherence and viral suppression programmes.
Experts warn that without decisive and coordinated action, the Philippines risks losing ground in its fight against HIV, jeopardising the health and future of an entire generation. - Xinhua
