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CHANGI General Hospital (CGH) picked up 35 HIV-positive patients in the first half of this year through its voluntary patient screening programme.

Most of them did not know they were carrying the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or Aids. Some might not have known so for many more years, said CGH chief executive T.K. Udairam.

These patients have been referred to the Communicable Diseases Centre for counselling and early treatment, which gives them a better chance of keeping the infection at bay. They can also take precautions against passing the potentially deadly virus to someone else, an offence that can land them in jail.

Hoax E-mail circulating in cyberspace spread unnecessary fear and alarm and add to the many damaging misconceptions surrounding HIV and Aids.

HIV infection rates among gay men in many parts of Asia are as severe as those which devastated homosexual communities in the United States in the late ’80s, said top officials of the United Nations Aids agency Unaids.

Launching his agency’s 2008 report on the global Aids epidemic, Mr Peter Piot, executive director of Unaids, urged more action to prevent the spread of the disease among gay men who have unsafe sex. He also stressed the importance of working with affected communities.

A NEW programme to stop the spread of Aids and other sexually-transmitted infections (STI) among youth here is being drawn up by the authorities — but what is different this time is that the programme is specifically targetted at students in the Normal stream, who have been identified by counsellors working with youth as being at “high risk” of contracting such diseases.

AIDS activists have long championed it, the results are bearing their point, and the Ministry of Health (MOH) is clearly warming to the idea of anonymous HIV testing.

Action for Aids’ DSC Clinic at Kelantan Lane also provides anonymous HIV tests, but it uses blood tests. It will pilot the use of the oral test kit later this month.

A MAN infected with HIV yesterday became the first such person here to be convicted of having unprotected sex with a 16-year-old boy without first telling him about the risks of contracting the virus.

As the number of infected people continues to rise, Aids education is all the more dire for our society

SINCE 1992, the identities of persons living with HIV have been protected under the Infectious Diseases Act, although they can be named if they are charged in court.

Over the years, there have been a few reports. But, what about putting their photos in the media?

It is a big grey area, going by what professionals in the legal, medical and media industry told TODAY.

Educating teens is top priority to combat their risks of contracting HIV

Standard Chartered’s ‘Be Aware, Be Safe’ scheme uses a mix of media to protect youths against HIV. It also emphasises understanding and compassion for those with this disease.

Amid the heady flush of first love, or lust, can two hot-blooded teenagers abstain from sex when even grown-ups yield to temptation?

More importantly, are we willing to live with the risk of giving them the benefit of the doubt when their lives and future could be at stake?

With teen HIV on the rise, is the abstinence-based approach relevant?

Only 13 per cent of cases detected were through voluntary screening

I think if there are more anonymous testing sites, the take-up rate of voluntary testing would go up. — Dr Tan Sze Wee

More young patients as total number of new cases hits 422

NINE youth — six of them males — between the ages of 10 and 19 were diagnosed as HIV positive last year, the most ever in a single year according to records dating back to 1985.

There were just two such cases the previous year, and four cases each in 2004 and 2005.

$1.8b in funding but teen pregnancy, STD rates unchanged

HIV took the top spot in the minds of MPs yesterday when Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan read the amended Infectious Diseases Bill for the second time.

Abstinence should not be the only strategy discussed. — Dr Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Paediatrics

New law requires them to take an HIV test, use condoms or inform partner of the risk

THE law has been tightened to serve notice to individuals who have reason to believe that their sexual behaviour may put their spouse or partner at risk of contracting HIV/Aids.

The message being sent by changing existing regulations is that 'no one has a right to put others at risk through his irresponsible behaviour', Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan told MPs yesterday.

With the changes, which Parliament approved, an individual who suspects he may have, or has been exposed to a significant risk of contracting the disease, must take reasonable precautions to protect his partner.

New onus on personal responsibility, power of containment for ministry

HIV took the top spot in the minds of MPs yesterday when Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan read the amended Infectious Diseases Bill for the second time.

Will an HIV-positive man be charged if he showed up at a hospital’s emergency department or if he infected healthcare workers? What about someone with multiple sex partners who practises safe sex? Will he be liable under the amended Act?

Exhibition aims to overcome society’s fear and prejudice

Asian governments must devote more funds to preventing Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) or face the risk that the disease could kill nearly half a million people each year across the continent by 2020, a United Nations report said.

Exhibition aims to overcome society’s fear and prejudice

THE Yellow Ribbon Project is helping change society’s prejudices against former convicts. If only the same could happen for those with HIV or Aids, wish the organisers of an ongoing Aids awareness exhibition.

If the findings of a survey on visitors to the exhibition are anything to go by, the battle against fear and discrimination appears long and hard.