Gays take some part of blame in HIV increase!
"ABOUT 1 in 25 gay men in Singapore is HIV-positive, said Dr Balaji
Sadasivan yesterday. Researchers came to that conclusion based on
the data gleaned from the anonymous human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) testing clinic at Kelantan Lane.
However, the Senior Minister of State for Health was quick to point
out that the data used to come up with the figure is far from
perfect.
Dr Balaji explained: 'There are many, many questions about this
data.
'Is this representative of all gays? Or is it representative of a
sample of gays? We can't answer this question unless we do more
detailed studies which may invade into people's privacy.'
Action for Aids (AFA), a non-governmental organisation which runs
the anonymous testing clinic, also has no idea how accurate the
figure cited by Dr Balaji may be.
AFA's programme manager Abdul Hamid Hassan said the figure could be
an overestimate, or an underestimate.
However, the figure here is definitely much lower than in Thailand,
where one in four gay men is HIV-positive.
To prevent a similar scenario here, the Health Ministry has held
many dialogues with gay activists and others in the know about gay
lifestyles to discuss Aids prevention efforts among gays.
Dr Balaji added: 'At this point in time, we are very fortunate that
gay activists and those interested in the issue are working with us
as partners to bring HIV under control.'
The Health Ministry will work with non-governmental organisations
such as the AFA to develop customised Aids education programmes for
gays, setting aside about $250,000 for this effort next
year."
Gays practise save sex. 
