| James Kon |
FOR the past three years, Brunei Darussalam has recorded an upward trend in HIV cases whereby from January to November 2016, there were already 34 cases recorded while in 2015, there were 28 cases and in 2014 there were 17 cases.
Altogether there have been 172 cases of HIV reported among citizens and permanent residents of Brunei Darussalam since the first case of HIV was detected in 1986.
Brunei Darussalam AIDS Council’s (BDAC) President Iswandy Ahmad, during the prize presentation of a short video competition with the theme ‘R.E.D: Re-educate, Empower, De-stigmatise’ to mark the celebration of World AIDS Day yesterday, expressed that he was not surprised with the figures after finding out the increase of cases in the local newspaper.
“We have seen the increase of cases since 2014. The rise in cases can also be attributed to the increase of awareness whereby more people are getting tested with the good medical healthcare provided by the Government of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and the private sectors,” he said.
According to Dr Ahmad Fakhri bin Haji Junaidi, HIV expert in the Brunei Darussalam AIDS Council said, “The group age is spread out from 20 years-old to 70 years-old. Majority is in 20 to 40 years old. A majority of the cases contracted HIV through unprotected sex.”
On tackling increasing HIV cases, Iswandy Ahmad highlighted that “We are utilising the most effective and most sustainable approach by educating and raising awareness. We are increasingly reaching out to the community through HIV awareness talks in schools, HIV awareness programme for peers and youths, utilising social media to reach out to the public.”
Photo shows HIV and AIDS awareness leaflets being distributed during Bandarku Ceria.
Recently, a hoax was spreading fears of HIV on social media and he urged the public not to spread any unfounded messages on HIV but instead refer to the Ministry of Health as well as BDAC to acquire accurate information. He also advised the public to practise safe sexual behaviour through abstinence and staying faithful to one’s sexual partner.
Meanwhile Billah Hassan, the Secretary for Media and PR of BDAC stressed on the importance of using social media as an effective tool to reach out to the younger generation. BDAC will continue to engage with the local youths to increase awareness on HIV.
Touching on the stigma of the disease, Dr Ahmad Fakhri Junaidi explained that “stigma perpetuates itself by making people afraid of the disease therefore people are afraid to get tested, which can cause the virus to continue spreading. Therefore we need to continue our efforts to reduce people’s fear of the disease and people also need to be more aware of how HIV is transmitted which is mostly through sexual activity in Brunei. HIV cannot be transmitted by physical contact, sharing food, shaking hands and others, however there are still people who believe that HIV can be easily transmitted through such methods and is causing fear to people who are living with HIV.”
“The society’s perception of people living with HIV isn’t up to the level where people living with HIV are comfortable talking about their status,” added Iswandy Ahmad.
As for plans in 2017, he mentioned that “BDAC is looking at effective and creative approaches to reach out to the public and we are looking at reaching out to working groups as well as to work with the private sector in advocating HIV awareness.”
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