Policy failures fuel Aids epidemic

The Philippine government is fueling a rising human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic among men who have sex with men through policies that restrict interventions proven to prevent transmission of the virus, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 46-page report, “Fueling the Philippines’ HIV Epidemic: Government Barriers to Condom Use by Men Who Have Sex With Men,” documents the failure of national and local governments in the Philippines to address the growing HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men.

The Philippines is facing one of the fastest-growing epidemics of HIV in the Asia-Pacific region. According to official statistics, HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men has increased tenfold in the last five years. National education on effective HIV prevention methods is nonexistent, and laws prohibit condom access and HIV testing to people under 18 without parental consent. These factors are contributing to the worsening epidemic among adolescent males who engage in same-sex practices.

“President Rodrigo Duterte has inherited a legacy of failed or counterproductive policies of previous administrations that are contributing to the alarming increase in HIV infections among men who have sex with men,” said Carlos H. Conde, Philippines researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Reducing HIV transmission isn’t rocket science. But it does require the Duterte government to implement an HIV prevention program and remove obstacles to condom and HIV testing access so that young Filipinos – particularly men who have sex with men – can protect themselves from an otherwise preventable illness.”

While the Philippine government instituted effective policies in the 1990s targeting the HIV outbreak among commercial sex workers, it has failed to adapt its prevention strategies in line with the epidemic’s shifting epicenter. Although Department of Health reports indicate that 81 percent of recorded HIV cases since 1984 have been among men who have sex with men, the government has failed to target HIV-prevention measures at this group.

Instead, government policies have created obstacles to condom access and HIV testing, Human Rights Watch said. In January 2015, the Senate cut P1 billion from the Department of Health’s budget for family planning commodities. Doctors have warned that without the Senate reinstating the needed funding, government clinics are likely to exhaust their condom supplies in early 2017. Local city governments in Balanga City and Sorsogon City have issued directives forbidding government clinics from procuring and distributing contraceptive products, including condoms.

These restrictions reflect the influence of conservative forces in government at both national and local levels, driven by the underlying authority of the Catholic Church. An estimated 80 percent of Filipinos are Roman Catholics, and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, which stated in 2015 that Filipinos who contract HIV are products of “broken, dysfunctional families,” has had a longstanding obstructive influence on government health and education policies. (hrw)