KUALA
LUMPUR — Children as young as six will be given sex education in Malaysian
primary schools from next year, an official said Sunday, as part of a drive to
curb 'baby-dumping', promiscuity and HIV.News (Updated
November 14, 2010)
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By ANDREW JACOBS
The man who filed the
lawsuit, a 22-year-old college graduate, had passed a battery of written tests
and an interview when a mandatory blood test revealed his H.I.V. status,
prompting the local education bureau in the eastern city of
“I’m heartbroken,”
said the man, who used the alias Xiao Wu in legal papers to protect his
identity. “I just wanted to find some justice for me and for others facing the
same problem.” Lawyers for the man said they would appeal.
In his ruling, the judge
agreed with the education bureau’s contention that regulations barring H.I.V.-infected
civil servants trumped a four-year-old law that was supposed to protect people
with the virus from the prejudice of employers. That measure, passed by the
State Council, the government’s chief administrative body, states that “no
institution or individual shall discriminate against people living with H.I.V.,
AIDS patients and their relatives.”
Li Fangping, a lawyer who
argued Xiao Wu’s case during a three-hour trial last month, said the judge’s
decision defied logic. “It’s an example of how the legal system enhances and
expands discrimination against people who are H.I.V. positive,” he said.
People with AIDS have
increasing access to medical treatment in
The government has come a
long way since the 1990s, when it went to great lengths to cover up a scandal in
which thousands contracted the disease at state-run transfusion programs.
These days, people with
AIDS have access to free antiretroviral drugs, and
But AIDS advocates say
they face a wealth of restrictions that make it hard to carry out grass-roots
activities. Wan Yanhai, the founder of the AIDS organization Aizhixing
Institute, moved to the
On Thursday, Beijing
Loving Source, a children’s AIDS charity founded by the jailed dissident Hu
Jia, announced it was shutting down after repeated scrutiny by the tax
authorities.
In a closely watched case,
Tian Xi, an AIDS activist who contracted H.I.V. through a blood transfusion, is
awaiting sentencing in
In a way, the legal
travails of Xiao Wu had been a bright spot for AIDS activists, who for years had
seen a series of job-discrimination lawsuits rejected by Chinese courts before
going to trial. Domestic media coverage of the case has been sympathetic, and
given the central government’s laws against discrimination, legal advocates
hoped a positive outcome would set a precedent.
Last month, an H.I.V.-positive
college graduate, who was encouraged by Xiao Wu, filed a similar case in
Now advocates worry that
Friday’s ruling will have the opposite effect, providing legal cover for
employers who do not want to hire people with H.I.V.
“This is bad news, given
that it was the first time an H.I.V.-positive person dared to stand up for his
rights,” said Yu Fangqiang, an AIDS advocate whose organization, Beijing
Yirenping, provided free representation to the defendant. “The entire H.I.V.
community had high hopes, but now the door appears to be shutting for people who
want to use the courts to fight against discrimination.”
Zhang Jing contributed
research.
(AFP) – 6 hours ago
KUALA
LUMPUR — Children as young as six will be given sex education in Malaysian
primary schools from next year, an official said Sunday, as part of a drive to
curb 'baby-dumping', promiscuity and HIV.
Deputy education minister
Wee Ka Siong told AFP that pupils aged between six and 11-years-old will study
the new curriculum, which has been designed with the help of parents and civil
society groups.
The plan follows
Thursday's announcement that sex education will be taught in secondary schools
across the conservative Muslim-majority country from next year.
"We want to also give
primary school students aged between six and eleven years, a better
understanding of family values and how to protect yourself from high-risk
behaviour," he said.
"Together, the
lessons in primary and secondary school provide a comprehensive sex education
curriculum that will help to reduce promiscuity, unwanted pregnancies, baby
dumping, HIV infection and other social ills."
Last month, Deputy Prime
Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the classes were being
considered as part of a plan to tackle the issue of baby-dumping, in which
babies have been left to die in toilets and rubbish dumps.
Giving birth out of
wedlock carries a strong social stigma in
In 2009 there were 79
cases of baby-dumping but as of mid-September this year there had already been
about 70, sparking alarm among authorities and the public.
Malaysia's first school
for pregnant teenagers opened in September in central Malacca state and in May
the nation's first "baby hatch" centre for unwanted newborns was
introduced in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All
rights reserved.
(AFP) – 9 November 2010
PARIS
In the "WelTel
Kenya1" study, three clinics recruited 538 patients with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
They either received the
weekly SMS message on their mobile phone in addition to a standard course of
antiretroviral drugs or were given standard care alone.
The text recipients
typically received the discreet message "Mambo?", which is Kiswahili
for "How are you?" They were instructed to reply "Sawa"
("fine") or "Shida" ("problem") within 48 hours.
Those who said they had a
problem or who failed to respond to the prompt within two days were then called
by a nurse to find out what was wrong.
In the SMS group, the
number of patients who achieved 100-percent adherence to their drug regimen was
12 percent higher than in the non-text group.
In addition, the numbers
who were able to achieve suppression of HIV to below detectable levels in their
blood -- a key benchmark of success -- was nine percent higher in the SMS group
than in the standard-care group.
The technique was also
cost-effective because it needed no additional equipment and little human
intervention.
Each SMS cost only around
five US cents, and the nurses who made the calls were able to send off the
messages in computerised batches, rather than individually.
Only 3.3 percent of the
prompts required a follow-up. As a result, one nurse could potentially manage
1,000 patients by SMS, and expect to make a follow-up call to only 33 patients
per week.
On cost grounds, the SMS
system could be a sure-fire winner compared to personal visits by a nurse, the
researchers say. It could be less expensive just measured on travel costs alone.
The approach could well
work in other cash-strapped countries which are fighting to get HIV patients
adhere to antiretrovirals, but are also seeing an explosion in the use of mobile
phones, the study suggests.
AIDS drugs often carry
unpleasant or toxic side effects and -- in the absence of a cure -- have to be
followed for the rest of one's life.
The study, led by Richard
Lester of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in
Copyright © 2010 AFP.
(AFP) – Nov 5, 2010
LOS
ANGELES — A major
Vivid Entertainment, one
of the world's biggest producers of porn films, said it was satisfied after
exhaustive tests were carried out on all partners of the actor at the centre of
the scare.
"We made the decision
to halt production as the health and well-being of our performers is of utmost
importance to us," said Vivid's founder and co-charman Steven Hirsch,
announcing the resumption of filming from Monday.
"We can now confirm
that all performers who were on the quarantine list as a result of being exposed
to the HIV positive performer have gone through two rounds of testing and the
results are negative."
The alarm was sounded last
month after an actor tested HIV positive at the Adult Industry Medical
Healthcare Foundation (AIM), a clinic for workers in the porn industry, centred
on the San Fernando Valley north of
At least four major film
producers suspended filming while tests were carried out on all the known
partners of the actor, who was not identified although he was understood to be
male.
The case, which fueled
calls for film companies to force actors to use condoms, is the first in over a
year in the industry, and comes six years after up to 14 actors tested HIV
positive forcing several movie firms to close.
Vivid's chief praised the
role of the clinic which alerted the industry to the HIV positive test. "We
believe that AIM acted professionally and thoroughly and proved that their
system works," said Hirsch.
"We will, of course,
continue to require recent test results for all performers in our movies and
will continue to take all necessary precautions to assure their health and
safety."
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All
rights reserved.
(AFP) – Nov 5, 2010
JOHANNESBURG
"We have circumcised
17,690 men and we are pleased to report that 99.5 percent tested negative for
HIV,"
Health officials in the
northeastern province launched the large-scale circumcision programme this year
after King Goodwill Zwelithini called for a revival of circumcision among young
Zulu men, saying it would help fight the spread of AIDS.
A number of studies have
shown that circumcising men can halve their chances of contracting HIV.
An estimated 5.7 million
of
KwaZulu Natal, the
homeland of the Zulu nation, has been the country's worst affected province. A
2008 study found that 38.7 percent of all pregnant women tested for HIV were
infected, 9.4 points higher than the national average.
Health Minister Aaron
Motsoaledi said other provinces should follow in the footsteps of
KwaZulu-Natal's circumcision programme.
"No other province
has done what you have done. I am very impressed. I am saying to other provinces
please adopt this method," he said.
Zulus practised ritual
circumcision until the start of the 19th century, when the legendary King Shaka
put a stop to it because it deprived him of young warriors for months at a time.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All
rights reserved.