Singapore facing AIDS epidemic

	Tweet

Singapore faces an AIDS epidemic, with the number of new infections diagnosed expected to hit a rate of 1,000 a year by 2010, a health official said.

Homosexuals and heterosexual men who have casual sex in other countries were two groups that needed attention, said Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan.

The number of new cases of HIV/AIDS in Singapore has been increasing and is set to cross 300 a year in 2004, he said in a speech.

If this continues unchecked, Singapore may have 15,000 people with HIV/AIDS by 2010.

“The number of new (HIV/AIDS) cases diagnosed appears to double every 3 to 4 years. At this rate of increase, we can expect more than a thousand new cases to be diagnosed in the year 2010,” he said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 4,000 people in Singapore with HIV, and less than half of them have been diagnosed, he said.

Sadasivan pointed to the sharp rise in new AIDS infections among homosexuals, from 54 cases last year to 77 in the first 10 months of this year.

“This recent explosion of cases is due to the promiscuous and unsafe lifestyle advocated and practiced by some gays,” he said.

He urged the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) to draw up measures to tackle the problem, including border screening of people in high-risk groups.

“If the CDC can screen high-risk Singaporeans at our borders when they return, we may be able to protect Singapore women from catching AIDS from these men,” he added.

Most HIV and AIDS patients are treated at the CDC. As at the end of September, there were 972 reported HIV patients and 1,334 reported AIDS cases in the city-state, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman said.

RELATED STORIES:
Budget tightening for AIDS vaccine studies   New hope for Aids vaccine   HIV treatment: 2 million years of life saved   Cheap Indian AIDS pill as good as pricey brands   Nigeria to expand therapy to 100,000 AIDS patients   Studies Show HIV Rising Among Migrant Workers   AIDS fund head warns of 2005 funding crunch   HIV testing advised for all sexually active people   Drug treatment effective in HIV babies   HIV treatment cuts drug cocktail   Singapore bans AIDS concert, citing gay artists   Clinton group to spend $10 mln for kids with AIDS

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]