Current efforts not enough to halt HIV/AIDS in Philippines, UNAIDS country coordinator says

"The Philippines has not been making progress in meeting its sixth Millennium Development Goal, which is halting and reversing the spread of ... HIV/AIDS..., according to the country coordinator of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)," the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

Teresita Marie Bagasao, who heads the UNAIDS office in Manila, said while "programs are being implemented by both public and private sectors to touch lives not only of Filipinos living with HIV, but also to reach out to many more who put themselves at risk of HIV infection," the "current efforts are not enough to reverse Department of Health estimates of a five-fold increase in new HIV infections in the next five years." According to Bagasao, the Philippines and Bangladesh are the only countries in Asia with increasing numbers of HIV/AIDS cases (Esplanada, 5/26).