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The Philippines moved in the opposite direction from several Southeast Asian neighbors over the past 25 years, with its estimated HIV incidence among adolescents rising to the highest in the region by 2025, Unicef data showed.
Among Filipinos aged 15 to 19, the estimated rate reached 0.49 new HIV infections for every 1,000 uninfected adolescents last year.
That represented a steep climb from below 0.01 per 1,000 in 2000. The Philippine estimate later rose to 0.10 in 2011 and 0.25 in 2019 before nearly doubling again by 2025.
University of the Philippines Diliman associate professor Rogelio Alicor Panao calculated that the latest rate was equivalent to around 49 new infections per 100,000 uninfected adolescents annually.
The Philippine trend stood out against declines elsewhere in the region. Thailand brought its estimated rate down from 1.80 per 1,000 in 2000 to 0.29 in 2025, while Myanmar fell from 1.26 to 0.43.
Cambodia also posted a sustained decline, with its estimated adolescent HIV incidence dropping from 0.68 to 0.16 per 1,000 over the same period.
The Philippines has expanded HIV prevention measures, including access to voluntary testing from age 15 under Republic Act No. 11166 and the inclusion of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in the Philippine National Formulary.
Panao said the numbers underscored the need for wider access to testing, prevention tools and sexuality education, particularly through channels that are accessible to younger people.