49 HIV/AIDS deaths in Sabah last year
Published on: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: A total of 49 HIV and AIDS-related deaths were reported last year in the State with the highest number of deaths recorded in Kota Kinabalu alone.State Health Department Senior Assistant Director Dr Abdullah Husam A. Shukor said there were 233 new cases of HIV reported last year, with 111 other cases reportedly evolving to AIDS.Other sexually-transmitted diseases include syphilis and gonorrhoea, which recorded 212 and 279 cases, respectively.ADVERTISEMENT "In Sabah, the scenario is different than in the peninsula. There, instances of HIV and AIDS were mostly contracted through the intravenous drug use (IDU)."However, in Sabah, more than 90 per cent were due to sexual intercourse, either between heterosexual couples or bisexual and homosexual couples," he said.Dr Abdullah said 89.6 per cent of HIV and AIDS infections were through heterosexual sexual relationship while 3.2 per cent were due to homosexual intercourse.Only two per cent of the patients caught the disease through IDU, while 2.8 per cent were reported to have been infected through vertical transmission, namely through their HIV or AIDS infected mothers.ADVERTISEMENT Between 1991 and 2015, the department had recorded 2,281 cases of HIV while they were 868 cases of AIDS during the same period.Sabah natives made up a bulk of the number at 68.4 per cent, followed by Chinese at 15.6 per cent and foreigners at 9.8 per cent.
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"The State Health Department conducted numerous steps to reduce the prevalence of sexually-transmitted diseases in the State, including HIV and AIDS. "Among them include wide media campaign, health education, school programmes, counselling, HIV screenings and promotion of healthy lifestyle to the public," he said.HIV screenings conducted last year have managed to identify 156 HIV positive individuals out of more than 155,000 screenings.A total of 65 tuberculosis patients were found to test positive for HIV, 43 blood donors, 18 pregnant mothers, nine high-risk individuals, seven potential brides and bridegrooms, six individuals with STDs, six prisoners and two drug rehabilitation residents.Malaysia has an HIV-infection rate of 11 out of 100,000, down from 22 out of 100,000 between 2002 and 2004.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Since 1986 until 2015, the country had recorded a total of 108,519 HIV cases, 22,495 AIDS cases and 90,603 people living with HIV.A total of 17,916 HIV and AIDS-related deaths have been reported during those periods.