AIDS fight needs action, says minister

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The Government is not interested in armchair critics and conservatives in its fight against HIV and AIDS, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said.
“If I have to deal with conservatives or people who are against the fight to curb the disease, a lot of my time, a lot of non-governmental organisations’ time will be spent on managing their negative reaction,” he said in an interview with The Star.
“We don’t want unnecessary publicity that would generate a backlash as these critics do not suffer from HIV or AIDS.”
The Government, he said, wanted to help those suffering from HIV or AIDS.
“What’s important is that the people come forward quietly to make it a success,” he said.
“The armchair critics put a lot of moral or religious dimension on what is basically, to the Government, an infectious disease, which if not controlled, can become an epidemic.
“The fight against AIDS is not an election campaign. We want to work and convince a group, who have been virtually marginalised before this, to come forward so that the AIDS problem will be curbed.”
The Health Ministry is taking the “bull by the horns” to check the growth of AIDS.
“Our first pilot project in working with NGOs has gained general acceptance. That’s how we should move forward,” he said.
Dr Chua said NGOs were working closely with the Government.
“So all this is NGO driven, but funded by the Government, with us supervising.
“We actually direct the NGOs where and how to move,” he said.
“We had three centres initially and now we are trying to make sure that in 2010 there is a centre in every state.
“Initially, we started from 1,000 to 2,000 people. We are sure that we’ll be able to reach out to 15,000 to 20,000 people in our fight against AIDS.”
The Government has allocated RM500mil to curb HIV and AIDS under the National Strategic Plan and several NGOs would be funded.
Dr Chua said: “We will work closely with NGOs and fund their activities for the needle exchange programme, methadone replacement therapy and networking.”