NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS

NTUC income’s Public affairs Head Caroline Fernandez (left) having her head shaved at pub Yello Jello in Clarke Quay to raise money for charity. This is part of Project Love, the month-long series of fundraising events, which included yoga sessions, car wash and even a hunger strike, to raise money for Moral Home for Disabled, Singapore Children’s Society and Action for Aids. As of Dec 26, $330,000 has been raised, exceeding the target of $300,000.

Health Minister agrees it should be treated like any other chronic disease.

PEOPLE with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), who have long complained about the cost of medication here, are about to get some relief - the Government has decided to subsidise their medicines.

This change of heart came on Monday, when the Health Minister asked the Communicable Diseases Centre (CDC) to draw up a list of drugs that should be eligible for subsidies.

This is a major change for those living with HIV, who number about 2,000 now.

It gives them access to drugs that can keep them well and alive for many years. More significantly, it means that HIV infection will finally be treated no differently from other chronic illnesses.

You could call it a silent epidemic. On Nov 8, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Balaji Sadasivan, announced that voluntary HIV testing would be offered to all patients above 21 admitted to public hospitals. The announcement comes as part of a plan to identify more HIV-positive patients at an earlier stage in their condition.

Speaking at the 6th Aids Conference, he cited results from an anonymous survey conducted by the Ministry of

Health (MOH) last year that found one in 350 patients discharged from hospitals to be HIV positive but undiagnosed.

"This is not something our hospitals can be proud of," he said.

SINCE her HIV-positive stepfather died in June, 15-year-old Jane has been skipping lunch because she cannot afford it. And when she goes home for a meal, it is always instant noodles.

“It would be nice to eat rice, or some chicken rice,” said the wistful teen, whose hopes of entering polytechnic to study drama and psychology seemed dim.

But now thanks to a new education bursary scheme, youth like Jane and her younger brother — who have parents with HIV, or are themselves infected — can ease their financial worries about going to school.

THE number of people diagnosed here this year with the Aids-causing virus looks set to hit an all-time high, fuelled partly by record numbers getting tested.

In the first 10 months of this year, 382 residents here were found infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 7 per cent more than the 356 cases uncovered over the same period last year.

The count for the full year is expected to exceed last year's, the Health Ministry (MOH) said, in a statement timed to coincide with World Aids Day today.

MORE than two decades ago, the first acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids) patient was diagnosed here. Since then, close to 4,000 people have been diagnosed as infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the precursor to Aids.

In spite of all that has been done to contain its spread, the number of new infections grows each year. In 1997, there were 173 new cases. Last year, the figure had more than doubled to 423. The number this year will be higher still.

How can the Government expect to fight the disease when it discriminates against HIV patients by not providing them with the treatment that they need?

This is not about giving special privileges to HIV/Aids sufferers. It is about treating them like all other citizens in the country, with the same right to basic medical care.

Fund for children, youth whose lives or families are affected by HIV

AN EDUCATION bursary fund to help children or teenagers who are infected by HIV or who has one or more HIV-positive parent was launched on World Aids Day on Monday.

Starting with a seed funding of $50,000 contributed by M.A.C. Cosmetics, the One Life Fund by World Vision here aims to eventually build it up to $300,000 to provide 300 bursaries.

THE 40-year-old part-time cashier looks well, but she has to pop six pills every day to continue doing so.

She was diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) two years ago, after landing in hospital with a related illness.

She is one of the patients featured in a photography exhibition on people living with HIV in Singapore, which aims to reduce stigmatisation by showing that they lead normal lives like normal people.

Few asian firms are involved in the fight against the disease.

HE CALLS himself a “very good salesman”, but getting companies in Asia to help combat HIV/ Aids is still an uphill battle, said Dr Peter Cowley, a country director at non-profit organisation Family Health International. Only 25 to 30 per cent of companies that he approaches agree to help.

SOME 22 per cent more Singapore residents have been tested for HIV in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2007. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said 124,559 HIV tests were done, compared to 102,490 between January and September last year.

There has also been an increase in anonymous HIV testing. The number of tests carried out in the first 10 months was 6,983, compared to 6,706 for the same time-span last year. Since last month, four additional GP clinics have also begun to offer anonymous HIV testing.

BUSINESSES should provide their employees with testing facilities for Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), a regional authority on the issue has suggested.

Dr Prasada Rao (picture), director of the UNAID Support Team for Asia and the Pacific, said such a move would be in the interests of the firm and its staff.

Latest move by the MOH aims to encourage more voluntary testing

TO ENCOURAGE voluntary testing, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has increased the number of anonymous HIV test sites.

From tomorrow, another four clinics will be added to the current list of three. Today was the first to report in July that the MOH was looking into expanding the anonymous HIV testing service.

IT IS as simple as ABC — literally. But young Singaporeans’ knowledge of the three-step method to prevent the contaction of HIV is still lacking.

A quarter of those aged 18 to 29 are unaware of at least two of these measures: Abstaining from casual sex, being faithful to one’s partner and consistent condom use.

Singaporeans were most ignorant about using condoms for protection against the disease, according to the first large-scale national survey on sexual practices and HIV/Aids.

Early detection also needed for groups at risk

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.