Philippine National AIDS Council

The AIDS epidemic in the Philippines has been rapidly changing in the past five years.  The increase in the number of new HIV infections is at a pace the country has never seen before.  From one new case every three days in year 2000, to one new case every three hours by the end of 2011.  Cases are mostly concentrated among males who have sex with males and people who inject drugs in certain geographic areas.

Since the Philippines is at a critical point, efforts have been made to be able to track the magnitude of the growing epidemic.

Estimated HIV Prevalence and Reported Number of Cases

The Philippines tracks its AIDS epidemic through passive and active surveillance.  The Philippine HIV & AIDS Registry is a passive reporting system with nationwide reach that includes newly diagnosis cases, those on ART, and mortalities.  On the other hand, active surveillance among key affected populations called the Integrated HIV Behavioral and Serologic Surveillance (IHBSS) is conducted every 2 years.  The country uses information from these systems when developing the Philippine Size Estimates of the Most At-Risk Population and the Philippine Estimates of People Living with HIV (PLHIV).