ABSTRACT
It was in 1984 that the Philippine government first confirmed a clinical case of AIDS in the country. As in many developing countries, the initial public response was one of indifference, with the problem perceived as a ‘foreign disease’ and, later, as a ‘sex worker disease.’ Such perceptions were reinforced by the demographic pattern of initial reports, with most of the identified HIV positive cases involving women sex workers servicing US military bases in the country.
