Materia Medica Malaysiana

No instant results from HIV plan

It will be some years before the harm reduction programme shows any effect in reducing HIV infection, said Malaysian Harm Reduction Working Group convenor Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman.
“It depends on how large the coverage is; and at least 50% of injecting drug users (IDUs) need to be included to see any effect within five years.
“Malaysians have to be realistic – it will not happen overnight. It does not mean that if the number of infections remains the same the following year that the programme is not working,” she said yesterday.
“And one must be aware that because there is a large number of HIV positive IDUs, it will be harder to bring down the numbers compared with if we had started when the numbers were low,” she said.
She said, according to the World Health Organisation, pilot projects to see whether it would be successful were no longer necessary. Providing condoms under the programme would lessen the risk of being infected through sexual behaviour, she added.
Dr Adeeba had earlier given a press briefing together with Malaysian AIDS council president Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Malaysian Harm Reduction Working Group member Datuk Zaman Khan and Ikhlas Drop-In Centre project manager Lenny Ng.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek last week said the Government was considering including the needle exchange programme and condom distribution under the harm reduction programme.
Dr Adeeba said that a successful harm reduction programme depended on whether there were enough community workers, budget and training.
“We have to educate outreach workers and identify the 'hot zones' (where IDUs are concentrated). The police need to understand what is happening so that they will not disturb (outreach workers).
“Many developing countries have introduced the harm reduction programme, including Asian and Muslim countries. It's not true that they have stopped the programmes,” she said.