TACLOBAN CITY — The Tacloban City government is experiencing an unprecedented rise in the number of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus prompting health officials to activate the local HIV council to address the problem.

Tacloban City Health Officer Dr. Danilo Ecarma said that from January to April this year, 71 new HIV cases were recorded.

“This is a very high number considering that from 1984 to the present we only had a total of 391 cases,” he said. “To say that there is an increase in cases is an understatement because what we are seeing now is a surge of cases.”

Ecarma said what makes the problem more alarming is that the infection is concentrated among the most productive age group — 24 to 35 years old and 15 to 24 years old — which are the age brackets of young professionals and students.

However, officials at the Department of Health (DoH) regional office said the rise in HIV cases in the region was expected due to heightened campaign for HIV testing among targeted sectors since it recently acquired HIV testing equipment and specimens are no longer brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for confirmatory test.

Ecarma said that of the 71 cases recorded this year, 90 percent were male who have sex with male and are engaged in “risky sexual behavior” such as having unprotected sex with multiple partners.

He said the City Health Office, together with DoH regional office and Eastern Visayas Medical Center, are already doing a heightened awareness campaign such as conducting lectures in public schools to bring the right information to the public especially the students.

Ecarma said the lectures do not only focus on informing the students on how they can avoid getting infected but also on navigating through the whole health care system in case they test positive of HIV infection.