New Straits Times, 10 June 2007
SERDANG: The Needle and Syringe Exchange Programme (NSEP) aimed at checking HIV/AIDS will be expanded to Alor Star, Kuantan and Kota Baru this year, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
Some 3,600 people are expected to benefit from the programme."Until February, 1,707 people in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru and Penang had benefited from the programme compared with the initial target of 1,200 clients," Dr Chua said when opening the Prostar 2007 convention at Universiti Putra Malaysia here. His speech was read out by deputy director-general of Health (Public Health) Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat.
Prostar is an AIDS awareness programme for youths. The NSEP and methadone therapy are part of government efforts to fight HIV/AIDS as most of the infected patients are intravenous drug users (IDUs)
On methadone therapy, Dr Chua said 1,241 patients had registered for the one-year programme and the government had expanded it to 17 hospitals and 24 health clinics. "From only 10 health centres it has been extended to more than 50 centres and 5,000 drug addicts nationwide. This is a five-fold increase."
Allocation for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS had seen a big jump from RM40 million annually since 1993 and an additional RM500 million from 2006 to 2010, mostly for the "harm reduction" programme. The government’s National Strategy Plan (NSP) against HIV/AIDS is for the period from 2006 to 2010.
On the Prostar programme, Dr Chua said the government had allocated RM3.8 million for 1,395 School Prostar Clubs, 104 Prostar Clubs and 11 Prostar service centres with membership of 11,036 nationwide
Sunday, 10 June 2007
Saturday, 9 June 2007
Supporting sex workers in Chow Kit
Drop in for a life-change
Malay Mail, 9 June 2007, Sushma Veera
KUALA LUMPUR: She never got the chance to have proper religious education. As such, 46-year-old Lina is now making full use of it to learn more about religion, hygiene, and even have time to ‘lepak’. She was among those met at a drop-in centre for sex workers in Jalan Chow Kit to provide them with reading, writing, maths, religious and even beauty lessons. “When I’m not attending lessons here, I would cook for the others and help run the centre.” (See accompanying story)
Nestled between shoplots, it was initially part of the PT Foundation’s office before moving to its own space about four months ago. “The centre was set up to give sex workers a safe place of their own. This is a centre where they can come and relax, take a nap or even do their laundry,” said S. Jenithaa, the executive director of PT Foundation. It also provides breakfast, lunch and tea. The centre is being managed by their outreach worker Selvi @ Fatimah.
Although rather new, the response, according to Jenithaa, is overwhelming and amazing. “We are at the hub of the area. We don’t have other means of promotion for the centre like flyers or posters, but through word of mouth. Our outreach workers would meet the sex workers and tell them about our place and encourage them to come over, at least once, as a start.
“Most who came for the first time, kept coming back. They feel more at home here.” Jenithaa said the centre wants to educate sex workers on prevention against HIV and AIDS. ”We need to create a rapport with them with programmes, and it is through these classes that we incorporate the education and prevention methods.” For example, she said, when they explain about hygiene, they would show the correct way to use a condom and why it must be used.”We will also explain how the HIV virus spreads and what the girls can do to prevent it.” There are also legal aid clinics every Thursday.
Jenithaa said it is important to reach out to these girls in a subtle manner. “It’s absurd to approach them directly. It is not easy to deal with them as many feel rejected and neglected. We have to be very subtle, taking one step at a time.” On how they keep track of these girls, she said they would do mapping and keep a database of them. “Once we get them to come, we would encourage them to do the rapid HIV test done every Tuesday evening by a doctor. It is also open to others.
“You would be surprised to see the results. It’s also sad that many of the sex workers don’t know they are HIV-positive. We would refer them to the Sungai Buloh hospital for treatment. We even provide transportation.” She said they do face problems when some of those who tested positive refused to come to the hospital. “That’s why there is an urgent need for them to be educated about HIV and AIDS, and other sexually-transmitted diseases.”
For future programmes, she said they are planning to introduce other lessons, like aerobics, sewing and baking. “As for baking, we want to encourage the sex workers to try baking some cookies, especially during the festive season, as a means of income.” She said the centre lacks sponsorship. “For a start, we need more furniture, but most of all, volunteers with a passion to work here and help the sex workers.” PT Foundation also conducts counseling.
They can be reached at Tel: 03-40445455 or 40445466.
The telephone counseling sessions are available from Monday to Friday between 7.30pm and 9.30pm.
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Opening doors to a better life
Malay Mail, 9 June 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: “It’s not easy to come out of this flesh trade because to many, it is the only trade they know,” says S. Jenithaa, the executive director of PT Foundation of the sex workers in Chow Kit. She said some are as young as 16 while a few are 75, adding that she was shocked to find out that while many never had proper education, some actually completed their higher secondary education.
“These girls trusted their lovers and had left their family behind, only to end up here. After a certain age, they would not have any savings for themselves, as all the money had been given to their boyfriend.”
She said there was a case of a sixth generation of sex worker in a family and there are also siblings involved.
“It’s like a circle of life. When a sex worker has a child, they fail to get the birth certificate or identity card for the child, resulting in them to losing out in education. When the child grows up, she joins the mother in the business. If it’s a boy, he may become a drug addict or petty thief.”
She said procedures, at times, makes it more difficult for these people to get documentation, especially MyKad. “Many would come to our legal aid clinic every Thursday at PT Foundation with various problems. It is also open for others like transsexuals. The problems are not only about not having birth certs or MyKad, but also about being mishandled by enforcement officers.”
She said at least 80 per cent of the sex workers also take drugs, pills or alcohol, if not a combination of all.
Many people, she said, had asked why wouldn’t the sex workers find a proper job. “To them, what they are doing is not wrong as they don’t know any other skills.”
She said the best they could do is to ensure that the sex workers are given adequate information on HIV and AIDS and how to prevent the disease.
“We can’t make them come out immediately. We have to educate them before making them realise that there is another door for them to open.”
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Number of sick foreigners arriving to work here increasing
The Star, 4 June 2007
TAIPING: More than 40,000 foreign workers have been sent back to their country of origin after failing their health checks last year, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. This figure, he said, represented 3.4% of the 1.3 million foreign workers who underwent mandatory health checks.
“This is worrying as the figure keeps increasing over the years,” he told reporters after opening a blood donation campaign here yesterday. Dr Chua said certain diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria made a comeback in recent years because of foreign workers.
Last year, the ministry detected 10,376 cases of tuberculosis, Hepatitis B (15,000), syphilis (3,600) and HIV (740). Dr Chua urged employers to cooperate and send their foreign workers for health checks. “Don’t put it off just because you want to save some money. These workers can be the cause of diseases to your family,” he advised.
On the ministry’s part, Dr Chua said they had made it compulsory for foreign workers to undergo medical checks a month, a year and two years after their arrival. “This is to ensure they are free from infectious diseases,” he added.
To a question, Dr Chua said the Government had no choice but to send the foreign workers who failed their health checks back to their country of origin. “We cannot continue subsidising healthcare for immigrants,” he said, citing the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu as an example where 25% of inpatients were foreigners. “Once they get admitted, they also take the hospital’s pillows, table fans and flasks,” he quipped.
On another matter, Dr Chua said the ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding with private hospitals for the latter to not charge their patients exorbitantly for blood supplied by Government hospitals. “If they fail to fulfil the agreement, blood supply to private hospitals will be cut off,” he added.
TAIPING: More than 40,000 foreign workers have been sent back to their country of origin after failing their health checks last year, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. This figure, he said, represented 3.4% of the 1.3 million foreign workers who underwent mandatory health checks.
“This is worrying as the figure keeps increasing over the years,” he told reporters after opening a blood donation campaign here yesterday. Dr Chua said certain diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria made a comeback in recent years because of foreign workers.
Last year, the ministry detected 10,376 cases of tuberculosis, Hepatitis B (15,000), syphilis (3,600) and HIV (740). Dr Chua urged employers to cooperate and send their foreign workers for health checks. “Don’t put it off just because you want to save some money. These workers can be the cause of diseases to your family,” he advised.
On the ministry’s part, Dr Chua said they had made it compulsory for foreign workers to undergo medical checks a month, a year and two years after their arrival. “This is to ensure they are free from infectious diseases,” he added.
To a question, Dr Chua said the Government had no choice but to send the foreign workers who failed their health checks back to their country of origin. “We cannot continue subsidising healthcare for immigrants,” he said, citing the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu as an example where 25% of inpatients were foreigners. “Once they get admitted, they also take the hospital’s pillows, table fans and flasks,” he quipped.
On another matter, Dr Chua said the ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding with private hospitals for the latter to not charge their patients exorbitantly for blood supplied by Government hospitals. “If they fail to fulfil the agreement, blood supply to private hospitals will be cut off,” he added.
Friday, 1 June 2007
Fighting HIV/AIDS: All agencies must pitch in
New Straits Times, 31 May 2007 - KAMAL SOLHAIMI FADZIL, Kuala Lumpur
THE time has come again to look at the HIV/AIDS problem. The trend over the years has been for the NGOs on one side calling for sex education in schools, condom distribution and more flexibility in addressing Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs) and the Health Ministry on the other side calling for abstinence and to stop sharing needles (preferably stop taking drugs altogether) and monogamy.
What appears to highlight these arguments is not so much personal conviction as the position one speaks from.
The director-general of health explains that Malaysia is an Islamic state and for this reason, addressing the reality of HIV becomes complicated.
If we accept the statistics, every year there is approximately an increase of 10 per cent in the number of people infected with HIV. Generally, it is accepted that 70 per cent of the total figure are IDUs.
If we take the statistics given at face value and what was reported (75,000 HIV patients were infected through drug use), we have approximately 100,000 people infected with HIV today. To highlight the significance of these figures, Australia, with roughly the same population as Malaysia, has about 20,000 HIV patients.
In the late 1980s, when both countries began to discover HIV cases, the number of infected people was very close. Three decades later, Australia has managed to control the number of newly-infected while we have only seen the numbers increase.
It is time we look around us, and ask ourselves what is it that they are doing that has been successful at keeping the number of infected people five times less than ours?
To say that no action has been taken in Malaysia is unfair. Recently there has been the needle exchange programme and limited distribution of condoms to targeted risk groups by NGOs. The ministry has worked hard to provide the necessary medication, counselling, and treatment. It is also common to see posters on public awareness about HIV/AIDS in public hospitals and clinics.
The problem of course is that other than the Health Ministry, other ministries have been slow to pick up their end of the responsibility. We should by now realise that the challenge to reduce the number of newly infected people lies with a broad spectrum of participation and is not only the responsibility of the Health Ministry.
People who are becoming infected are between the ages of 20 and 40. The statistics also show an increase among women. With parents being infected with HIV/AIDS, children are at risk of being orphaned or infected with the virus. Children, women, young adults and working people, form the risk group for HIV/AIDS.
It is a disease that may spread largely from one’s behaviour but the complexity of the implications that HIV creates makes it a concern for everyone. Treating HIV/AIDS may lie in the domain of the Health Ministry but prevention is the concern of everyone including ministries that cover women, children, youth, public education, human resources and health.
The solution needs to be a concerted effort from all ministries and it needs to reflect the secular nature of Malaysia. Hence, it is about time we teach about sexuality and sexual health in schools. We should also teach not only about abstinence but also about responsible sexual practice.
As long as condoms are legal in Malaysia we should enlist it in our fight against HIV. The challenge, as I see it, is not to de-stigmatise condoms, rather it is as a society to take a mature look at sex and sexuality.
THE time has come again to look at the HIV/AIDS problem. The trend over the years has been for the NGOs on one side calling for sex education in schools, condom distribution and more flexibility in addressing Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs) and the Health Ministry on the other side calling for abstinence and to stop sharing needles (preferably stop taking drugs altogether) and monogamy.
What appears to highlight these arguments is not so much personal conviction as the position one speaks from.
The director-general of health explains that Malaysia is an Islamic state and for this reason, addressing the reality of HIV becomes complicated.
If we accept the statistics, every year there is approximately an increase of 10 per cent in the number of people infected with HIV. Generally, it is accepted that 70 per cent of the total figure are IDUs.
If we take the statistics given at face value and what was reported (75,000 HIV patients were infected through drug use), we have approximately 100,000 people infected with HIV today. To highlight the significance of these figures, Australia, with roughly the same population as Malaysia, has about 20,000 HIV patients.
In the late 1980s, when both countries began to discover HIV cases, the number of infected people was very close. Three decades later, Australia has managed to control the number of newly-infected while we have only seen the numbers increase.
It is time we look around us, and ask ourselves what is it that they are doing that has been successful at keeping the number of infected people five times less than ours?
To say that no action has been taken in Malaysia is unfair. Recently there has been the needle exchange programme and limited distribution of condoms to targeted risk groups by NGOs. The ministry has worked hard to provide the necessary medication, counselling, and treatment. It is also common to see posters on public awareness about HIV/AIDS in public hospitals and clinics.
The problem of course is that other than the Health Ministry, other ministries have been slow to pick up their end of the responsibility. We should by now realise that the challenge to reduce the number of newly infected people lies with a broad spectrum of participation and is not only the responsibility of the Health Ministry.
People who are becoming infected are between the ages of 20 and 40. The statistics also show an increase among women. With parents being infected with HIV/AIDS, children are at risk of being orphaned or infected with the virus. Children, women, young adults and working people, form the risk group for HIV/AIDS.
It is a disease that may spread largely from one’s behaviour but the complexity of the implications that HIV creates makes it a concern for everyone. Treating HIV/AIDS may lie in the domain of the Health Ministry but prevention is the concern of everyone including ministries that cover women, children, youth, public education, human resources and health.
The solution needs to be a concerted effort from all ministries and it needs to reflect the secular nature of Malaysia. Hence, it is about time we teach about sexuality and sexual health in schools. We should also teach not only about abstinence but also about responsible sexual practice.
As long as condoms are legal in Malaysia we should enlist it in our fight against HIV. The challenge, as I see it, is not to de-stigmatise condoms, rather it is as a society to take a mature look at sex and sexuality.
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