6 posts tagged “aids”

First and foremost, I would think RPK won't lose sleep over this once since it's not his abbreviation being mentioned in the title.

The World Health Organisation has declared the spread Swine Flu/ Selsema Babi/ A H1N1 influenza as a pandemic flu alert. In other words, people should start panicking as if the world's about to end and billions will perish throughout the world.

Next thing you know, we'll be a soon to be extinct race fighting off robots.

The WHO is being rather hypocritical in declaring just what exactly makes a phase 6 pandemic, aren't they?

Let's look at the statistics.

Patient Zero of the Swine flu/ Selsema babi/A H1N1 influenza virus is still alive.

The reasoning given to raise it to a "Phase 6" pandemic as highlighted by Ban Ki Moon was that it was widespread geographically, but not how virulent it was. - Bernama

Well, I happen to know a virus that has been geographically widespread since the 80's and has killed 25 million people worldwide regardless of race, religion, location, sexual orientation and even age.

The Human Immunodefficiency Virus, or HIV.

So while the world is going around panicking about how people are getting the flu with not all of them dying, and even having a supposed vaccine in the form of Tamiflu, I'm just wondering why they can't or won't do the same for HIV.

If that's too descriminately gay for those descriminatory people out there, think again. It's not just a gay person's problem. Statistics in Malaysia are showing that heterosexuals are the majority of those infected by this virus.

Particularly standing out is the fact that straight women are the one's being infected.

We know very well that HIV spreads particularly, not through the sharing of needles by drug abusers, but through sex.

And yet, we have a government and every single religious body preaching abstinence instead of safe sex with condoms, which, I might add, will also stop newborn babies being found in dumped into toilets, garbage cans and even landfills.

During an open discussion with some friends, it was highlighted by a doctor that he had gone on Al-Jazeera . Also in that interview was a representative from the religious right wing in Malaysia.

According to the doctor, when he highlighted the use of condoms in sex to stop the spread of HIV, he got this reaction from the right winger:

"No feeling."

Okay......

Now while I have yet to ascertain who that moron was and who to write to, it is without a doubt the stupidest excuse to stop the spread of a virus that has killed 25 million people, is it not?

In regards to Question 4 in the Hansard dated 19th March 2009. Question posted by MP Teluk Kemang, answered by Deputy Minister of Health.

The question: What is the government doing to curb the spreading of HIV/AIDS?

The answer: The government has programmes involving counseling, medicare, prevention and an anti-drug campaign.

The follow up: Shouldn't the government be spending more on the campaign via the mass media, featuring documentaries, commercials, etc.?

Follow up answer: The government has allocated RM500 million for the period 2006-2010 for this purpose.

Moronic statement by the MP of Hulu Terengganu: A majority number of those who are infected with HIV/AIDS were looking for it. (sengaja mencari)

Moronic statement number two: This worries the society to the point that our children need to undergo a blood test before marriage.

Moronic question: Shouldn't the government release the information of HIV/AIDS carriers to the public, other than those who were born with it or contracted it via blood transfusion?

Brilliant answer by Deputy Minister of Health: There's this thing called a human's right to privacy and the Hippocratic Oath, doctor patient confidentiality, you moron!

I added the "you moron" part, because it's obvious to me that the MP from Hulu Terengganu is living under a coconut shell, which is not hard to imagine for someone from a state with such wonderful beaches lined with coconut trees.

My apologies if this is misconstrued as the words of the Deputy Minister of Health.

First off, dearest MP from Hulu Terengganu, no gay or straight person in this country looks to get infected with HIV/AIDS. And as the Deputy Minister of Health clarifies further in his explanation that it is a crime for someone to not inform his spouse of him/her having it, and I personally hope that someday this will be extended to life partners as well. *knock wood*

It is sad that the MP simply thinks that the blood test before marriage is to merely root out the HIV/AIDS. The blood test could further be extended to root out STD's.

If anything the Deputy Minister of Health was a patient and solicitous person, who was not afraid to state this:

"Even if they have HIV/AIDS, we cannot stop them from marrying. The basics of human rights of an individual needs to be protected and we need to know that HIV is a normal disease that does not spread through touch. And a person with HIV is nothing to frown upon."

I agree with the Deputy Health Minister on this one. A person with HIV should not be frowned upon when there are idiots like the MP of Hulu Terengganu who deserves such honors for himself.

Data taken from the Malaysian AIDS Council, opinions are my own.

Fact: 4741 new cases of HIV and AIDS reported came from men, 937 from women.

Yet, the government insist that women be the ones to bring around condoms.

Fact: Out of 5689 newly reported cases of HIV and AIDS, only 232 cases are from a homosexual/bisexual relationship.

Yet there are those who insist that AIDS and HIV is God's wrath against homosexuality, to the point of branding this a crime.

Fact: Out of 5689 newly reported cases of HIV and AIDS, only 31 cases are those who are sex workers.

Yet, there is general misconception that these people are guilty for the spread of this disease.

So with these facts mentioned and published in the AIDS Council website, perhaps there is a need to re-examine some of the justifications brought forth by this government in their decision making.

I have no problems with religion. I think Christianity is a wonderful religion because it preaches the golden rule.

I like Buddhism because it preaches patience. Taoism for it's similarity to the principles of Islam, and Hinduism for it's historical presence in Malay culture.

The thing is, I have no problem with religions and their books. It's the people who become the issue. Can we agree on this?

I mean, it is people who look into the holy books and take out Sodom and Gomorrah as a lesson to outlaw homosexuality.

Let's be honest, guys.

Lot's tribe in Sodom and Gomorrah were having widespread orgies and sharing partners in the streets of the city.

Do you actually see our gay Malaysians doing the same in the streets of Kuala Lumpur or Subang Jaya?

I would think not.

Nik Aziz states that HIV is spreading due to the moral decay of our society. Bear in mind, this is the same fellow who has branded me a "lost soul" for not supporting PAS. The same person who in the 60's and 70's said that a person who voted for BN was a kafir, thus nullifying marriages, causing people not to visit graves, and to the point of disowning their relatives.

However, he is partially right in this case. It's true. Moral decay is the cause of HIV being spread, but it's not just morals, it's education and tolerance as well.

How many of us know that HIV cannot be spread by a kiss, even if it is on the lips? How many of us know that you cannot get HIV from having sex with an HIV+ if you play it safe? Did you know that HIV cannot spread through touch or accepting the person's past sins?

Did you know that HIV does not spread through tears strewn when you comfort them when their own families wish to have nothing more to do with them?

If anything, I would think AIDS is a gift to test our humanity, our acceptance and forgiveness of one's sins against themselves and others, and we should not shun it nor encourage it, but we should damn well accept it.

Education, tolerance and acceptance. These are the morals that are decaying in our society. Let's fix these first while they're still looking for a cure, and make those who are suffering from this deadly disease as comfortable as possible.

Apparently Indians are not exactly well aware about the spread of the HIV virus only being able to be done by the sharing of bodily fluids, excluding saliva.

It is heartbreaking to read about paranoid parents who would bar innocent kids with AIDS from schools, as read in The Times.

I always thought John Howard had a heart, until recently discovering that it was probably replaced with one of those plastic contraptions they use to prolong one's life until another election.

I don't understand this.

AIDS does not spread through touch, nor is it highly contagious like tuberculosis. So why ban these people from coming into Australia?

However, I have yet to find anything that can say what John Howard is proposing as illegal, not even in this document.