People living with HIV/AIDS urged to go for screening

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has urged some 3,000 people living with HIV/AIDS to get themselves screened and treated so that they do not spread the disease to others.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahya said the modelling that the ministry had done together with UNAIDS and EastWest Center Hawaii estimated that by the end of 2015, there were 93,000 people living with HIV in Malaysia but ministry data showed only 90,603 reported.

“We look at our current figure and we are short of about 2,400 to 3,000 cases. We must try to find the missing cases,” said Dr Hilmi at the Malaysian AIDS Council’s 13th biennial general meeting yesterday.

His speech was read out by deputy Health director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.

Dr Hilmi said for that reason, the ministry had made testing more accessible and called on those with high-risk behaviours to get themselves checked.

HIV testing, he added, was available in government health facilities, including in 1Malaysia clinics, while community volunteers could also go to HIV high-risk sites to offer the service.

At a press conference later, Dr Lokman said the reason to get all HIV cases screened was to ensure they did not spread it to others and that treatment was available.

Reminding that HIV had a big impact on families, he said if either couple had risk behaviours, “let’s be frank here, he or she can transfer HIV infection to their partner”.

He added that when the wife got infected and later pregnant, the child too could get infected.

“It’s a person’s moral obligation to protect others. Don’t get people infected by your behaviour,” he said.

As of last year, the ministry had located 108,519 cases of HIV infection and 17,916 deaths related to AIDS.

Last year, there were 3,330 new cases of HIV infection reported.