More than 600 Filipinos were diagnosed with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and most of them are millennials, according to April 2017 report of the Department of Health (DOH).
Out of 629 persons, 513 (81 percent) of those diagnosed with HIV are aged 15 to 34.
In a media, HIV advocacy group Red Whistle said parental consent needed by Filipino teenagers below the age of 18 contribute to the rise of HIV cases in the Philippines.
“It is important because you want to desensitize the youth that it’s okay to talk about sex, it’s okay if you’re engaging in it but there are these options and there are these risks that you are facing right now,” CNN Philippines quoted HIV advocacy group Red Whistle co-founder Niccolo Cosme as saying.
Half of those who were recently diagnosed HIV in the country (343 persons) acquired the virus were male who had sexual contact with the same sex.
Meanwhile, the data also cited two reported cases of mother-to-child transmission, while 18 were reported to have contracted the virus through sharing of infected needles.
HIV-related deaths in the country have reached 172 during the first half of the year.
