Advice to go for thalassaemia, HIV screenings
Published on: Wednesday, November 26, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: The public should go for health screenings in their local health clinics for thalassaemia and HIV, said Medical Officer of the City Maternal and Child Health Clinic, Dr Che Zarina Abdullah.She said this at the launching of a Thalassaemia and HIV Awareness Campaign at Kolej Sains Kesihatan Bersekutu, Tuesday."This campaign is part of our project to raise awareness among the public, especially those aged below 24, on the importance of screening your thalassaemia and HIV status.ADVERTISEMENT "We aim for these people especially as they may marry in the near future and we want them to know their status so that they can make a better choice in choosing their spouses."She said people carrying thalassaemia genes, known as carriers, should not marry other carriers as this gives a 25 per cent chance of each child born to be a thalassaemia sufferer. "However, if a carrier were to marry a non-carrier, there will be no chance of them having a thalassaemic child. It is important for the public to find out their status because there is no symptom for a carrier; they are like a normal person."The awareness campaign began on Monday with free thalassaemia and HIV screenings for 300 college students who participated. It was followed by a talk on Thalassaemia and HIV/Aids by Dr Mohd Nazri Daud and a "KK City Getting to Zero Walk" from the college auditorium to Taman Tun Fuad and back.ADVERTISEMENT Dr Zarina said that thalassaemia is one of the biggest health concerns of the country whereby statistics show that one in every 20 Malaysian has a three to five per cent chance of being a carrier. That means 600,000 to one million Malaysians are carriers."We are trying to reduce that statistics. Greece had done this programme for so many years and their statistics have reduced dramatically. We want to achieve that."
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She also said the programme is part of a promotion for KK City Getting to Zero HIV by Year 2020 project held on Dec 16 in conjunction with World Aids Day."This project is a huge programme that has been done in Seremban, Kuching, Kuantan and now Kota Kinabalu has been selected as well."This programme aims to achieve three objectives which are zero new HIV infection, zero discrimination on HIV patients and zero AIDS-related death all by 2020." She said the HIV cases reported in Sabah are mostly caused by unprotected sex while in the peninsula, it is mostly the sharing of needles by drug addicts.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Dr Zarina also said the Government has put up a special centre known as KK City Wellness Centre for the high-risk population, transgenders, drug addicts, prostitutes and such to have free health screenings. Free treatments are also provided.