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Rhodina Villanueva - The Philippine Star
December 3, 2025 | 12:00am
Data from the HIV and AIDS Surveillance of the Philippines showed that up to 429 people who engaged in paid sex were diagnosed with HIV from July to September.
The STAR / Miguel de Guzman
MANILA, Philippines — Of the 5,583 new human immunodeficiency virus or HIV cases recorded in the third quarter of this year, more than 400 were contracted through transactional sex, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
Data from the HIV and AIDS Surveillance of the Philippines showed that up to 429 people who engaged in paid sex were diagnosed with HIV from July to September.
According to the DOH, “429 or nine percent of the newly diagnosed HIV patients engaged in transactional sex in the past 12 months… 173 of the cases paid for sex; 171 of them are men.”
The health department said 178 cases accepted payment in exchange for sex, with 173 of them men.
The report also said that 78 cases both paid and accepted payment for sex including 74 men.
Up to 17,577 HIV cases have been recorded since the reporting of transactional sex started in December 2012.
Fifty-seven percent or 9,953 of the total cases with a history of transactional sex were diagnosed from 2020 to 2025. Almost half of them or 4,721 paid for sex.
Meanwhile, more than 50 pregnant women tested positive for HIV during the same period.
“From July to September, there were 56 HIV-positive women, aged 15 to 39 years who were pregnant at the time of the diagnosis,” the DOH said.
The integration of the reporting of the pregnancy status into the HIV and AIDS Registry started in 2011.
“Since then, a total of 1,118 diagnosed women were reported pregnant at the time they tested positive for HIV,” the DOH said.
The National Capital Region recorded the highest number of HIV cases during the period, it said.
