7-year-old becomes youngest to contract HIV in South Cotabato
A boy became the youngest to test positive for HIV in South Cotabato at seven years old this year.
John Arlo Codilla, head of the Disease Prevention and Control Unit of the South Cotabato Integrated Provincial Health Office, confirmed this in a video shared on the Facebook page of the provincial government.
"The youngest that we have... based sa data natin is 7 years old," Codilla said as he cited 142 new HIV cases in the province this 2025.
Codilla said they aren't able to determine yet whether the child acquired it through sexual abuse or other factors, but they have ruled out a mother-child transmission.
“The mother is with us. We screened already. Non-reactive or negative siya in terms of testing,” he said.
Per Codilla, the data was based on recorded HIV cases as of September.
Of the total HIV cases in South Cotabato this year, 97 are males, and 13 are females, including the six who are pregnant.
Codilla encouraged early testing and sex education to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
In the third quarter of 2025, the Department of Health recorded 5,583 new HIV cases in the country. According to data from the HIV and AIDS Surveillance of the Philippines, the figure was 22% higher than the number of cases recorded during the same period in 2024.
