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"Most Malaysians ignorant
about sexual health, says doc"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(17/06/05)
Malaysians are largely ignorant about their reproductive and sexual health,
said Federation of Family Planning Associations of Malaysia
secretary-general Dr Mary Huang. This included youths' lack of knowledge
about the subject and women's ignorance about access to reproductive and
sexual health services, she said. “Sexual education is now a hot topic with
the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. Part of the reason
that there are so many social problems is the lack of knowledge.
“We
can use the school system to reach out to young people including educating
them about HIV/AIDS. We need to reach out to more people,” she said in a
press conference to announce the Third Asia Pacific Conference on
Reproductive and Sexual Health that will be held in Kuala Lumpur from Nov 17
to Nov 21. She added that although Malaysia was considered an affluent
country, its women still did not go for tests like breast examination and
Pap smear.
Dr
Huang, who is the conference's local organising committee vice-chairman,
said programmes like harm reduction would also battle HIV infection among
non-drug users. “This is because drug users have sex with their wives or
partners. This in turn infects them. Our HIV/AIDS awareness programmes have
reached only those who are easy to reach,” she said. During the conference,
she said, plenary sessions, symposiums, skills building and parallel
sessions would be held.
“We
hope to have a debate on sex education and whether it should be made
compulsory in schools. “A group of youths will also go through skills
building to learn how to talk to parliamentarians and relate their opinions
to them,” she added.
Among
the objectives of the conference are to examine the sexual and reproductive
health status of the region, share best practices in sexual and reproductive
health, promote research and explore avenues for sexual and reproductive
health and rights.
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