In January, official figures have confirmed that the Philippines managed to diagnose as many as 143 fresh people with HIV, a disappointing number for authorities who have been trying to control the epidemic from spreading and engulfing more lives.

All over the world, billions of Dollars have been spent on prevention drives which educate people about how not to become the next victim of HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS, the deadliest of diseases.

And keeping this in mind, the fact that there has been hardly any improvement in the numbers of cases, which have actually managed to rise in certain areas, the whole scenario is just plain sad.

At a time when the world should be more educated about AIDS and people should be trying their best to take all the precautionary measures to not fall prey to it, the numbers in Philippines have come as a setback, and a news which has managed to depress the authorities trying their best to push drives and campaigns designed to help people stay away from the virus.

Across the US, health professionals have now started to distribute female condoms, after observing that distribution of male condoms is not helping as much. So putting in a different approach might just be the answer and more people should try doing this. If the conventional methods of education are not working, maybe what the authorities now need to do is take on a different route.

The battle against AIDS is still raging, and till now, it seems that we have not managed to defeat the deadly enemy in most parts. Some quick and drastic measures need to be taken, and the authorities should not stop their drives just because they are not as fruitful as they thought these would be.