Health Promotion Board spreads safe sex
message
SINGAPORE : Gay groups, women groups and health authorities are
banding together to push out new AIDS awareness campaigns.
Last November, Senior Minister of State for Health Dr Balaji
Sadasivan hit out at AIDS activists for not doing enough to spread
the safe sex message among the gay community.
Now, he plans to take the message directly to the community itself
when he addresses an AIDS awareness seminar targeted at gays.
This is part of plans to engage the civil society more actively in
the fight against AIDS in Singapore.
Since the beginning of this year, officials from the Health
Promotion Board (HPB) have been visiting factory workers in more
than 130 companies to spread the safe sex message.
But it is not just lower income heterosexual men who are targeted
in these talks.
For the first time, the HPB is also working on a series of AIDS
awareness seminars targeted at gays, and it has held preliminary
discussions with at least one gay group on this.
The dates and details are still being worked out.
Alex Au, Social Activist, said: "I think it is good for the
Ministry to do so because the fact is, there is a gay and lesbian
community in Singapore, and the fact is there has not been a lot of
communication with the community and it is a useful first step
forward."
Clarence Singam, Clinical Director of Oogachaga Counselling and
Support, said: "Currently, we run bi-monthly English talks on
psycho therapy issues affecting gay people."
He said they planned to spread the safer sex message there because
"we hit about 100 people each time".
Dr Balaji had previously caused a stir when he said gay parties,
like the Nation Parade, might have led to a sharp rise in new AIDS
cases last year.
But at a later dialogue session with women grassroots leaders, he
explained that the Health Ministry is not anti-gay. Rather, the
urgency is in stopping the spread of AIDS.
Gays are considered to be at a higher risk of contracting HIV in
most countries.
And going for HIV testing is an important part of the fight to stop
it from spreading.
More than half of the 1,500 men that activist group Action for AIDS
has surveyed do far, have gone for the test.
And the rate of increase in infection seems to have slowed.
In the first half of 2004, 22 out of 498 men who have sex with men
or MSM, tested positive at the Kelantan Road Anonymous HIV testing
clinic.
In the first six months of this year, 21 out of 820 men tested
positive here.
Women's groups are also joining the fight against AIDS.
Braema Mathi, President of AWARE, said: "By raising awareness and
bringing it on the table by Dr Balaji and his team, it has been
good in that sense.
"All of us are now coming together in a tighter community to see
how we can leverage on each other, how we can push out better
programmes."
AWARE, which is hosting an AIDS forum on Saturday, has also set up
a fund to help women go for free HIV testing. - CNA/de