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"FREE CONDOMS, NEEDLES:
'Just investment to limit spread of HIV/AIDS'"
New
Straits Times (Www.nst.com.my)
(17/06/05) Letters - Muhammad Imran Abdul Hafidz, University of Bristol,
United Kingdom
I
totally agree that free needles and condoms be given out. Although some
people may see it as a visible strain on taxpayers’ money, but for the sake
of a growing nation, this must be done. If people realise how much Malaysia,
or any other country in this matter, must bear for retroviral drugs and
other HIV treatment, which run into hundreds of millions per year, then
people will agree that giving out these free items, which would cost a
fraction of that, would be a just investment.
HIV
will always be a problem, and the only thing we can do is limit the damage
done, and the only way to do this is by limiting its spread. I have always
believed that you have to do what you have to do. There are no two ways
around it. If there is a HIV problem, tackle it. If it needs free needles
and condoms to tackle it, then give them out. If it costs money to do this,
then spend it. What else can we do?
As the
nation develops, then so will certain diseases. Reports of obesity in the
newspapers, for example. We read about people with mobility problems due to
their weight. Why? Did someone force food down their necks? It is because of
a lack of education and willpower. Would it be easier to refrain from eating
that extra chocolate bar, or would you prefer running 3 kilometres to burn
that excess calories from it? It is all about knowing about the cause and
effect.
I hope
the Government will have the momentum to do these radical changes. Would we
rather do these radical changes to save the country, or would we be stopped
by people's ignorance and leave the matter alone, and face it only when we
are met with an epidemic?
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