Materia Medica Malaysiana

'Say no to sex if husband has Aids'
KUALA LUMPUR - Women in Malaysia should be allowed to refuse sex if they know their husbands suffer from HIV, said a women's affairs minister.

'There have been cases of wives being forced to have sex with their husbands although they realise they run the risk of being infected with HIV,' Datuk Sharizat Abdul Jalil, Women and Family Development Minister, said.

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She said her ministry was organising programmes to educate wives about their right to refuse sex, and their husbands had to accept and respect the decision.

Malaysian Aids Council president Marina Mahathir said religious leaders in mainly-Muslim Malaysia should support the proposal.

She said: 'Women are not considered as being in the high-risk group but they are subjected to Aids by various means, including contracting it from their husbands.

'The problem is that our culture does not allow wives to say no to sex and this ought to change.'

Datuk Sharizat said Health Ministry data showed that three new Aids cases were reported daily last year.

'The reported number of HIV infections among women has increased by 35 per cent from 2001 to last year. This is a cause for worry,' she said.

The ministry is willing to provide funds for the Malaysian Aids Council to publish booklets in Tamil and Mandarin on Aids, she said. -- AFP, New Straits Times