NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS 2008
|
|
Down goes the mane, up goes the money
Local (Updated: 30 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Tuesday • Dec 30, 2008 |
|
|
Subsidised drugs for HIV patients
Local (Updated: 09 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| The Straits Times • Saturday • Dec 6, 2008 |
|
|
Silent killer still at large
Local (Updated: 08 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| AsiaOne • Saturday • Nov 29, 2008 |
|
|
School money for HIV’s young victims
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Tuesday • Dec 2, 2008 |
|
|
HIV cases to hit new high
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Straits Times • Monday • Dec 1, 2008 |
|
|
Treat HIV like other diseases
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Straits Times • Monday • Dec 1, 2008 |
|
|
Bursary for HIV-hit kids
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Straits Times • Monday • Dec 1, 2008 |
|
|
Living with HIV in photos
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Straits Times • Monday • Dec 1, 2008 |
|
|
Businesses not biting
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Today • Monday • Dec 1, 2008 |
|
|
More going for anonymous HIV tests: MOH
Local (Updated: 04 Dec 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Today • Monday • Dec 1, 2008 |
|
|
AIDS Conference: HIV tests a the workplace
Local (Updated: 10 Nov 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Weekend Today • Nov 8-9, 2008 |
|
|
FigHt against HiV spike: More clinics to offer anonymous tests
Local (Updated: 31 Oct 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Friday • Oct 31, 2008 |
|
|
AIDS Education: Gen Y lacks HIV awareness
Local (Updated: 17 Oct 2008)
 |
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
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Friday • Oct 17, 2008 |
|
|
35 HIV cases detected CGH is the first hospital to offer voluntary HIV tests to all its patients
Local (Updated: 16 Aug 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Extract from ST 12 Aug, 2008 |
|
|
Get Aids from burger? What a load of junk
Local (Updated: 01 Aug 2008)
 |
Hoax E-mail circulating in cyberspace spread unnecessary fear and alarm and add to the many damaging misconceptions surrounding HIV and Aids.
|
Read more...
| Extract from ST 23 Jul, 2008 |
|
|
Aids in Asia - One in 5 Asian gays has HIV
Local (Updated: 31 Jul 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Monday • July 31, 2008 |
|
|
Sex Education Specially for Normal Stream
Local (Updated: 28 Jul 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Monday • July 28, 2008 Page 1|
| Monday • July 28, 2008 Page 2|
|
|
Anonymous HIV Testing Numbers on the Rise
Local (Updated: 18 Jul 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Thursday • July 18, 2008 |
|
|
Year's jail for HIV-positive man
Local (Updated: 15 Jul 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| Tuesday • July 15, 2008 |
|
|
Aids and the teenager
Local (Updated: 16 May 2008)
 |
As the number of infected people continues to rise, Aids education is all the more dire for our society
|
Read more...
| weekendTODAY • June 28 - 29, 2008 |
|
|
Should identity of HIV patient be revealed?
Local (Updated: 02 Jun 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Monday • June 2, 2008 |
|
|
No time to waste in fighting Aids
Local (Updated: 16 May 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Friday • May 16, 2008 |
|
|
Teens, Sex and AIDS: Time To Face Up To Today's Realities
Local (Updated: 08 May 2008)
 |
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?
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Thursday • May 8, 2008 |
|
|
Rapid HIV test kit not a hit yet
Local (Updated: 02 May 2008)
 |
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
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Friday • May 2, 2008 |
|
|
HIV-positive
Local (Updated: 30 Apr 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Wednesday • April 30, 2008 |
|
|
Abstinence ‘not effective’
Local (Updated: 25 Apr 2008)
 |
$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
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Friday • April 25, 2008 |
|
|
HIV/Aids: Anyone in high-risk acts must protect partners
Local (Updated: 23 Apr 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| The Straits Times • Wednesday • April 23, 2008 |
|
|
Amended ‘HIV’ Act passed
Local (Updated: 23 Apr 2008)
 |
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?
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Wednesday • April 23, 2008 |
|
|
Half a million could die of Aids in Asia each year: UN
Local (Updated: 28 Mar 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| TODAY • Friday • March 28, 2008 |
|
|
‘Walk in the shoes of
those with HIV, Aids’
Local (Updated: 26 Jan 2008)
 |
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.
|
Read more...
| weekendTODAY • January 26 - 27, 2008 |
|
|
|