Pubdate: Sun, 26 Jun 2005
Source: Malay Mail (Malaysia)
Copyright A The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia)
Contact:  http://www.mmail.com.my/
Author: Jeswant Kaur

HIV-AIDS - IT'S EVERYONE'S FIGHT

A multisectoral approach is needed to fight the disease with the
rising numbers of cases, Malaysian AIDS Council president, Marina
Mahathir, tells Jeswant Kaur

MALAYSIA would not be on the brink of a HIV/AIDS epidemic if we had
paid more attention to the early warning signs. Instead, a reluctance
to confront the problem

head-on and a false sense of security have resulted in the recent
World Health Organisation warning that the country is at the initial
stage of a HIV break out.

This is not the first warning from WHO which had issued a similar
caution a few years ago. Its recent fear, however, was prompted by
findings that 15,000 children in Malaysia had been orphaned by AIDS.
WHO is now closely monitoring the "progress" of the HIV situation in
Malaysia. Its findings are contained in its UNAIDS/WHO Report on the
Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic.

Sixteen years after HIV was first detected in Malaysia, the situation
domestically has seen little improvement. Official figures state that
about 65,000 people have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Of this, 9,444
have AIDS and 7,195 have since died.

"Obviously, the rising numbers indicate that the Government has not
done enough. There was this reluctance to tackle the issue of HIV/AIDS
head-on, with the false security that somehow we are different from
other countries affected by AIDS and that we can do things our own
way," laments Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) president Datin Paduka
Marina Mahathir.

She tells Sunday Mail that Malaysia's failure to articulate an
effective way of tackling the problem had only worsened the situation.

"Everything is deemed sensitive and because of that no one does
anything. Is it surprising then that we should be in this situation
now?"

"MAC has been voicing the same concern for a long time. We were using
the word 'epidemic' from the beginning. But unfortunately, we
sometimes need to get to a certain level of infection before people
really begin to understand how serious it is," she says.

She says the public's lack of understanding about HIV/AIDS was
responsible for the many misconceptions about the disease.

"I do not think the public is in denial as much as I think they are
not very well educated about HIV. There are still many misconceptions
about how you do or do not get infected by HIV. It is not surprising
then that some people react negatively to suggestions made to improve
the situation. If they were better informed, then they would probably
be more supportive. We certainly need to do more public education with
the aim of eradicating the stigma of HIV/AIDS. That would help a lot
with prevention."

Marina, however, fears that the WHO warning, while revealing the
gravity of HIV/AIDS situation in Malaysia, might also result in an
adverse reaction from the people.

"My greatest fear is that people will panic and demand the wrong sort
of programmes, such as isolation of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs).

"We need people to be calm and approach the situation based on
scientific evidence of what works and what doesn't. Malaysia is not
the first country in the world to be in this situation, so we do not
need to invent anything. All we need to do is adapt proven prevention
programmes to our circumstances," she explains.

She says the success of many countries in successfully tackling
HIV/AIDS revealed that what was most needed was a multisectoral
approach to this disease.

"This means that prevention is being done not just by one group but by
everyone in a well-coordinated way. And there needs to be many
different approaches to reach many different types of people. As long
as we insist that there is only one way of doing things and keep
waiting for someone to do that work, we have no hope of tackling
HIV/AIDS at all.

Leadership at highest level crucial

Marina stresses that leadership at the highest level was needed to
tackle the HIV/AIDS problem, adding that it was heartening to note the
Malaysian Government's decision to implement harm-reduction measures
to tackle HIV/AIDS.

"Why has Uganda managed to bring down its HIV/AIDS numbers? It is
because President Yoweri Museveni himself heads the national AIDS
committee. This is the only way to ensure things will move," she says.

Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek had recently said that 1, 200
drug users will be given condoms and needles in Government hospitals
and clinics beginning October on a trial basis. Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said that the plan was the best so far
in tackling the HIV/AIDS situation.

Drug abuse is responsible for the bulk of HIV/AIDS cases in Malaysia.
There are 13,000 intravenous drug users and a big number of them share
needles, escalating the risk of infection.

"It is because we have reached a critical stage in our HIV epidemic
that we require these measures. It would have been good if we had done
this long ago but still it is not too late to do something now,"
Marina says.

She points out that during MAC's nationwide training of Muslim
religious leaders, it was found that at the grassroot level, the
leaders yearned for more knowledge on HIV/AIDS.

"These leaders are faced with the issue but without proper knowledge,
they do not know how to help and feel helpless. They were happy when
we conducted the workshops and asked for more."

Marina, however, worries most for PLWHAs as they not only had to
endure physical suffering but also mental and emotional anguish in the
form of discrimination and neglect by people around them.

"Being turned away by one's family and close friends must be the most
painful thing to experience. If society gets panicky and hysterical
and starts clamouring for isolation, then we will end up causing more
suffering for PLWHAs in our country. We should be ashamed of such lack
of compassion towards our own people."

She also stressed on the importance of involving PLWHAs in the
planning and implementation of HIV/AIDS programmes.

"They know what caused them to become infected and they alone know
what it is like to be infected. We will not dream of designing
programmes for the blind without their input so how can we design
programmes for HIV/AIDS without the involvement of PLWHAs? We do this
because we think that once someone gets infected, they do not have any
brains anymore. That is what is known as prejudice and
discrimination," Marina says.

Marina will be among the participants from Malaysia attending the
Seventh International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP)
in Kobe, Japan, from Friday to July 5.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin