CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 They also tend to prefer more children, unlike the vast majority of married women (81 percent) who wanted either to space their next birth or to limit childbearing altogether (NSO 1998). 447. The menace posed by HIV/AIDS infection has reached a significant level although it is not as serious as in other countries. From 1984, when the first AIDS case was reported in the country until 2002, some 1,789 HIV cases had been reported to the AIDS Registry (NSO 2002). Of this, 1,078 (66 percent) were HIV positive and 545 (or 34 percent) had developed AIDS; 234 (43 percent) of the AIDS victims are now dead. Hardest hit by the virus are men (61 percent of the HIV cases) and the economically productive age group. Among males, prevalence is highest in the 30-39 age groups; among females, the 19-29 age groups, many of whom are “women in prostitution”.2 HIV/AIDs are now being detected among wives of seafarers and overseas Filipino domestic workers. 448. In 84 percent of the HIV cases, transmission was through sexual contact: 74 percent, heterosexual; 20 percent, homosexual; and 6 percent, bisexual. The less frequent modes of transmission were needle prick injuries, blood or blood products, and injecting drug use (2 percent); no exposure was reported for the remaining 14 percent. The yearly number of HIV infections picked up in 1993, rising to 100 from 69 in 1992, and peaked in 1998, with 190 cases. With AIDS, the annual number of cases jumped to 56 in 1994, and since then, averaged about 50 new cases a year (NSO 2002). By June 2003, there were 12 HIV cases, four of which are women. 449. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are considered public health threats because of their devastating complications on women and neonates. The 1994 STD Prevalence Survey done among women in prostitution revealed the prevalence of gonorrhea at 16 percent, chlamydia at 20 percent, trichomonas at 18.6 percent and syphilis at 4.6 percent. It also showed that among the antenatal women who represent the population, prevalence of STDs is much lower with gonorrhea at 1 percent, chlamydia at 6 percent, trichomonas at 1 percent and syphilis at 0.5 percent (DOH). B. ACTIONS TAKEN Policy developments 450. The Philippine government sought to provide the appropriate legislative mandate and framework for health programs and the development of the health sector. a. 2””Women RA 7875, or the National Health Insurance Act of 1995, has specifically identified women as one of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups that should be covered and provided medical benefits. The household is the basis of enrolling indigent members, but efforts are now underway to address more women concerns and to give women equal access to medical benefits being offered. The Implementing Rules and Regulations of the law are now being revised to possibly include coverage of injuries caused by violence against women and accreditation of midwives thereby making in prostitution” and not “female sex workers” is used since the latter term legitimizes the practice of prostitution. The use of women in prostitution also recognizes poverty as the primary factor that pushes women into prostitution. 120