DOH Sec on HIV Upsurge: 'I Don't Know Why Kids Shun Condoms'

HIV infections surged 500 percent in the first quarter of 2025. Fifty-seven cases were recorded each day, averaging 1,700 cases a month, in the 15-25 age group.

- JARIUS BONDOC

The youngest victim is a 12-year-old in Palawan.

To that alarming news, Health Sec. Teodoro Herbosa hollered: Let's declare a national public health emergency.

But wait a minute. Isn't the Department of Health in charge of disease prevention, monitoring, treatment, and public education?

So what has Herbosa been doing since his appointment on June 5, 2023? Why was he taken by surprise when he was supposed to be on top of the situation?

"Ayaw gumamit ng condom nitong mga bata eh, I don't know why," Herbosa reportedly shrugged in a recent interview.

That means he doesn't know what's going on.

But DOH staff do. They've long been grumbling about it.

Complaints reached this column. Sources requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. Perhaps Sen. Jinggoy Estrada can flesh it out, since he's calling for a "comprehensive inquiry" by Sen. Bong Go's committee on health. Among the inputs:

• "DOH never learns from experience. Poor info campaign and health education. Laging panic mode nalang kapag may outbreak – monkeypox and other re-emerging diseases."

• "For HIV, they do not have manuals, standard operating procedures, not even guidelines. The Disease Prevention and Control Bureau is focused on tuberculosis (eighth leading cause of death). Other infectious diseases are left out – HIV, hepatitis."

• "May intervention naman sa HIV. But policy-wise, walang health education, behavioral change, info dissemination."