Philippines HIV cases jump 500%, prompting ‘public health emergency' warning
Philippine medical authorities on Tuesday warned of a looming 'public health emergency' as HIV infections have soared this year, with young males especially hard hit.
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On average, 57 new cases a day were tallied in the country of 117 million people over the first three months of 2025, a 500 per cent jump from a year earlier, health department data shows.
'We now have the highest number of new cases here in the Western Pacific,' Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said in a video message released on Tuesday.
'What is frightening is, our youth make up many of the new cases,' he said.
'It would be in our interest to [declare] a public health emergency, a national emergency for HIV to mobilise the entire society, the whole of government to help us in this campaign to reduce the number of new HIV cases,' Herbosa added.
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The health department said 95 per cent of newly reported cases were male, with 33 per cent aged 15–24 and 47 per cent aged 25–34.
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