HIV on the rise in Philippines
New HIV infection rates are on the rise in the Philippines, with nearly 80 percent of these among gay men.
The Philippines Department of Health reported 1,305 new HIV infections during the first 10 months of 2010, compared with 835 for the whole of 2009, with more than half of those in people under 30.
In 2000, as part of its UN Millennium Goals, the Philippines pledged to halt and reverse its rate of new infections by 2015.
UNAIDS has called for the country to define its prevention strategy and set standards of quality in its response to the virus.
The only other Asian nation reporting a rise in new infections is Bangladesh.
