Mother-to-child HIV transmission cases rising

Transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from mother to child has increased sharply over the past years, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.

- With Evelyn Macairan

In the latest HIV and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) Surveillance of the Philippines, 202 cases of mother-to-child HIV transmission were logged between January 2020 and March 2025, which is more than half of the 401 total number of cases since 1984.

In the first quarter of the year, 17 cases of newly diagnosed HIV cases were acquired through mother-to-child transmission.

Sexual contact, however, has consistently been the leading mode of HIV transmission among the newly diagnosed cases.

A total of 148,831 HIV and AIDS cases were recorded from 1985 to March 2025. Of the number, 96 percent, or 143,272 were acquired through sexual contact.

The figure includes 89,198 cases from male-to-male sex, 33,823 male-male/female sex, and 20,251 from male-to-female sex.