Free SMS service offers information on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment

The Department of Health wants to take advantage of the country's being the “text capital of the world” to spread information on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) to the residents of Metro Manila.

Mobile phone users in Metro Manila can now get free information on the prevention and treatment of HIV or AIDS by texting HIV to 8504, DOH said on its Facebook page on Friday.

A series of messages and interactive voice responses will guide users through information, risk assessment, and referral to participating health facilities in Metro Manila, it added.

The project, called TXT HIV to 8504, is a public-private partnership among the Philippine NGO Support Program, Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) and Globe Telecommunications.

The PNAC said in an earlier report that one Filipino is infected by HIV every 90 minutes, an infection rate that has skyrocketed in the last few years, a previous report said.

"The Philippine HIV epidemic is no longer the usual low and slow prevalence. We're now experiencing a fast and furious type of epidemic wherein the epidemic is concentrated," Dr. Ferchito Avelino,council executive director, said in a "24 Oras" report last August. — Kim Luces/JDS, GMA News