by: newgreenpaper
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 10/10/05 10:22 am
Msg: 9997 of 9997
Singapore News »
Dr Balaji Sadasivan
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 08 October 2005 2049 hrs
Self-test kits for HIV/AIDS to be available by year-end
By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia
Self-test kits to check for HIV/AIDS will be made available to the public by the end of this year.
The Health Ministry said it would be carried out as a pilot project .
Making pregnant women go for HIV testing at the beginning of this year has already yielded positive results.
In the first 6 months of this year, 7 women tested positive for the HIV virus, and this early intervention has meant that so far this year no babies have been born with HIV.
The women were among 9,800 women or about 99 percent of all pregnant women who were tested for HIV.
The Health Ministry said that to ensure other groups of people were also diagnosed early, it would introduce self-test kits that allow them to test themselves with their saliva by the end of this year.
Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Health, said: "Currently you have anonymous testing being done at the Kelantan Road clinic where it can be done and it's testing using the blood but with technology you can test for HIV using saliva and in 20 minutes you can have the results."
"We are going to bring this self test kit initially as a pilot project. Hopefully through GP clinics and maybe bars and other locations where people take part in risky behaviour...we want to see if people will test themselves and by if they are positive they will be more careful."
Dr Balaji said making the self -test kits easily available may help those with the virus seek treatment early.
He said: "Currently many people diagnosed for HIV have HIV for years before they actually know they have it and as a result their own health suffers and often during this period when they are HIV positive, they may infect others."
"By making self testing available, we hope that people will test themselves early so that the will know that they have HIV early so they can come early which will benefit them. And if they know they are HIV positive, they can spread prevent from spreading the disease to others."
In view of the rising number of women with HIV/AIDS, the Ministry is looking at ways to help them get proper treatment so that they can say healthy especially if they have children.
Dr Balaji said: "We hope that through the community groups working with the public sector we can create avenues of raising money to help these women"
Among the more than 290 women diagnosed with HIV, 60 percent are married.
Dr Balaji was speaking at an AIDS awareness talk by the People's Association Indian Activities Group (Ladies Committee) aimed at married couples and teenagers in the Indian community.
It was the first such talk by a community group.
Dr Balaji said that community groups played an important role in helping to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
And he hoped that more community groups would take the initiative to hold such talks.
About 116 (or 5 percent) of more than 2,000 HIV/AIDS patients here are Indians.
Malays make up 8 percent and the Chinese, 84 percent.
It's estimated there are about 4,000 to 5,000 people living with HIV/AIDS but so far only half have been diagnosed.
Last year a record of 311 new HIV cases were diagnosed - 93 percent were men.
Nearly all were infected through casual sex. - CNA /ch
Gruß
C.O
|
Thread abonnieren
