Dr. Rowena Galpo, OIC-City Health Officer, said the Philippines is one of the eight countries where HIV cases continue to rise.
Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes, head of the Baguio Social Hygiene Clinic, also stressed cases in the city rose during the past years from two recorded cases in the past decade to six cases in 2010 and 2011.
This brings to 50 the number of people who have contracted HIV in the city since the government started monitoring in 1992 when the Summer Capital registered its first case.
Sixteen of these HIV-positive individuals either developed acquired immune deficiency syndrome or Aids died due to complications.
Brillantes said their strategies of screening and issuing certifications to commercial sex workers have been producing good results, as this sector has not yielded any positive cases in the past years.
What concerns doctors now is the growing number of men having sex with men (MSMs), identified as the most vulnerable sector for the past four years.
From overseas Filipino workers in the early 2000, the cases of HIV recorded were mostly MSMs and injecting drug users, she said.
However, most of the new cases, with 17 years old as one of the youngest recorded case, were acquired through sexual contact.
The youth, she said, engaged in casual and unprotected sex, a risky behavior often resulting to deadly circumstances such as acquiring the fatal disease.
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