Manila: At least 271 Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been infected with HIV in 2011, 50 per cent higher than 174 OFWs who were tested HIV positive in 2010, a radio report said.
A total of 1,794 OFWs abroad were found HIV positive since 1984, Congresswoman Luzviminda Ilagan said in a radio interview.
Some of them have full blown Aids or have already died.
The new cases were included in the 2,349 HIV over-all cases in the country in 2011, said Ilagan, adding they represent 48 percent higher than the 1,591 cases in 2010.
Because of the growing number of HIV-Aids cases, the Philippine government cannot meet the goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal to end HIV-Aids spread by 2015, Ilagan said.
Apart from that, there has been a remarkable decrease in the local and foreign funding for anti-Aids programs in the Philippines, Ilagan said.
At the same time, Philippine Congress has failed to pass the controversial health bill which allows the government to subsidise the reproductive needs of poor people, including a campaign in schools and in practice for protected sex.
There are about nine million OFWs based worldwide. They represent 10 per cent of 92 million Filipinos.
They send about $18 billion a year to their relatives in the Philippines every year. They have been fueling the country's economy with their annual remittances.
