By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
Interaksyon.com
TAGAYTAY CITY–Fifty-three percent of injecting drug users (IDU) in Cebu City have tested positive for HIV, the Department of Health said Thursday.
DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said the figures in a recently conducted survey in Cebu have become alarming. In the study, a total of 160 out of the 301 surveyed tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus. The survey estimates rates of new and old infections.
“If this is applied to the estimated IDU population of 3,500 then there are 1,760 (estimated HIV positives),” Tayag told InterAksyon.
In 2008, only eight cases of IDU transmission were reported to the DOH. The latest HIV/AIDS registry pegs the number at 155.
But Tayag clarified that the 53 percent prevalence rate can have different numbers depending on the size of the total IDU population, especially since the DOH is just working on estimates.
“If there are 1,000 IDU in Cebu then there are 530 (HIV positive). If the IDU population is 3,500 then it’s 1,760 (HIV positive),” he added.
Cebu has considerably edged out other areas like Mandaue City and Gen. Santos City in Mindanao, which posted relatively low IDU transmissions.
Tayag said the DOH has coordinated with the local government of Cebu to figure out measures to curb the alarming number of cases.
In general, the IDU population has a median age of 16; majority shares used syringes, accepts payments for sex, feels at risk to HIV, and never had an HIV test before.
Tayag said the steep prices of the prohibited drug has pushed the IDU population to cut back on buying unused syringes. Since the drug also comes in very little doses, the IDU users have to inject themselves more than once at a particular time to reach their much-coveted high.
