Health Ministry: HIV infection down by 65% in Malaysia

by Theleaders-Online | December 4, 2019 7:40 am

PUCHONG: Health Ministry said the number of HIV infection cases in the country had decreased by 65% from 2002 until last year.

In a Facebook post today, the ministry said the achievement was attained with the introduction of Harm Reduction Programme since 2010 and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme since 2015.

“The Harm Reduction Programme has achieved to reduce sharing of needles among drug users from 48% to 3% when it was introduced in 2010.

“Whereas the ARV treatment had decreased HIV infection from 31% to 55% since 2015,” it said.

The ministry said Malaysia was recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Oct 8, 2018, to be the first country in the Asia Pacific region to prevent HIV and Syphilis infection from mother to child.

By Irman Hashim

Source URL: https://theleaders-online.com/health-ministry-hiv-infection-down-by-65-in-malaysia/

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