CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (December 1, 2025, 8:45 pm) – Northern Mindanao marked World AIDS Day Monday with intensified calls for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) testing and treatment to combat stigma and misinformation

“You just treat HIV testing like it’s any other testing, such as sugar or lipids. The only way to know if you have the virus,” Dr. Althea Louise Escobillo, Iligan City’s National AIDS and STI Prevention Control Program coordinator, said in an interview.

Health institutions across the region offered free confidential tests and educational drives in schools and communities.

Since 1991, the Department of Health has recorded 4,008 HIV cases in Region 10, with 178 new cases from January to March this year.

One person living with HIV, 34-year-old “BenMark,” said daily antiretroviral therapy has kept his viral load undetectable for six years, allowing him to marry and have an HIV-negative wife and child.

Republic Act 11166, known as the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, protects persons living with HIV from discrimination and unauthorized disclosure of their status.

HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and leads to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome at the most advanced stage of infection). (Nef Luczon/PNA)