Housewives, maids not spared from AIDS, says DOH study.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Blanche S. Rivera and Maurice Malanes

MORE women in the home, particularly housewives and maids in the Philippines, are infected with HIV/AIDS, the Department of Health said yesterday.

Contrary to previous pronouncements that HIV infection was spread by commercial sex workers and overseas Filipino workers, recent data showed that women involved in intimate relationships were not spared from the virus, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said.

Citing statistics from a study of the last 200 HIV cases in the National HIV Registry, Dayrit said women accounted for 28 percent of new HIV cases. Of this, 50 percent were housebound and 48 percent were working.

Most of the housebound infected women were either housewives or local domestic helpers. Women aged 30 to 39 registered the highest HIV prevalence in the country among women.

"We can say it's a sign of sexual permissiveness or promiscuity where people are probably jumping into bed with anyone they are attracted to. Some are probably married women who are bored in their marriages or with their partners and are playing the field," Dayrit said in a press conference at the DOH office in Manila yesterday.