Young adults majority of new HIV cases in Malaysia
Dr Dzulkefly said that 75% involved those aged between 20 and 39, adding that the pattern of HIV transmission in the country has shifted significantly over the years.
He said that this shift is a move from infections caused by sharing drug needles to HIV being spread through sexual contact.
'In 2024, sexual transmission accounted for 96% of all HIV cases. Of these, 64% involved homosexual or bisexual contact, while 32% were heterosexual,' he said in a written reply to Tan Kok Wai (Pakatan-Cheras) in Parliament.
Dr Dzulkefly reported a total of 3,185 new HIV cases in 2024, with a notification rate of 9.4 per 100,000 people. Men accounted for 90% of the cases, while women made up 10%.
'This shows a change compared to the 1990s, when almost all cases involved men (99%) and only 1% were women,' he added.
The overall number of new HIV and AIDS cases in Malaysia dropped by 50% between 2000 and 2009. However, the decline has slowed in recent years, with only a 27% decrease recorded from 2010 to 2024.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Expert panel's proposals on vape ban to be presented to Cabinet
Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said that with strict enforcement, he is confident of effectively regulating vape sales and protecting children from its exposure. PETALING JAYA : The health ministry will present an expert committee's recommendation on banning electronic cigarettes or vape to the Cabinet once the study is completed, says health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad. He said the recommendation would mark a key step towards implementing the ban. 'We are committed to this (vape ban) and it is no longer a matter of 'if'. 'I will present it to the Cabinet for deliberation,' Bernama reported him as saying after officiating the Sihat Milik Semua carnival at Dewan 2020 in Kangar today. Dzulkefly said enforcement of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852) had already shown positive results, with the number of smoking product variants in the market dropping to 2,794 in June from 6,824 before the Act's enactment. 'That means only 40.9% remain. With strict enforcement, I am confident we can effectively regulate electronic cigarette and vape sales. 'Most importantly, we must protect non-adults, students and our children from exposure to vape. 'Act 852 will be enforced firmly to regulate all smoking products, including vape, to safeguard public health,' he said.
Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
No talks yet on hiring Indonesian nurses, says health minister
Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the ministry was also looking into the status of community nurses ,who are still waiting for permanent placements, to fill vacancies. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA : Malaysia has yet to enter into discussions or received official requests regarding a proposal to deploy Indonesian nurses to serve in public hospitals, says health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad. However, Dzulkefly said his ministry had taken note of the remarks made by Indonesia's consul-general in Johor Bahru, Sigit S Widiyanto. Dzulkefly Ahmad. He said the ministry was also aware of concerns raised by Cuepacs, the umbrella body for civil service unions, Berita Harian reported. 'We are aware that various parties, including Cuepacs, NGOs, and the Malayan Nurses Union, have raised numerous issues about this matter. 'But the fact remains – there have been no official discussions and the health ministry has not received any formal request,' he told reporters after attending an event in Kangar today. On Aug 5, Bernama reported that Sigit had proposed allowing Indonesian nurses to work in Malaysia to alleviate the manpower shortage in the healthcare sector. Sigit said the move would benefit both countries as Malaysia is facing a shortage of healthcare workers, including nurses, while Indonesia has a surplus. He also said Indonesia had already begun state-level collaboration with a hospital in Johor, including starting the process of recruiting candidates. Sigit said this required approval from the health ministry, the Malaysia Nursing Board and other relevant parties. In a separate development, Dzulkefly said the ministry was looking into the status of community nurses, who graduated under the promotion by appointment (PSL) programme but were still waiting for permanent placements to fill vacancies. 'Yes, we are mapping the postings to ensure they remain in their current localities. We will assign them accordingly. 'We estimate there are over 1,800 PSL-trained community nurses in the country. 'We are working to place them as soon as possible. The matter is already being addressed.'
The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Youth Pulse: When silence is not a virtue
LATELY, I have been thinking about how we Malaysians talk about sex, or more accurately, how we don't. There is a clear pattern to be observed. Our society's loudest detractors react with moral panic instead of asking why these efforts were necessary in the first place. The resulting norm is a country where silence is mistaken for virtue, and one where we risk leaving our young people vulnerable to disease and shame. The alarm bells should have been ringing three months back when the Malaysian AIDS Council reported that individuals aged 20 to 29 now make up 44% of all HIV cases, with many being school leavers and university students unaware of the risks. Sexually transmitted cases remain high, accounting for over 54,000 of the 135,000 HIV cases recorded since 1986. Alarmingly, even children under 13 are among the newest reported cases. Yet time and again, we see corrective steps taken to instil better sexual health awareness shut down. A Student Represen-tative Council at a local university was accused of spreading 'sexual liberalism' when they organised condom distribution and STI (sexually transmitted infection) prevention booths as part of 'Gender Equality Week' this past June. The same month, police raided a 'gay party' in Kelantan, seizing HIV medication and condoms. The state's Health Department recently clarified that the event was an HIV awareness programme. It is telling that while HIV cases linked to drug use have declined due to sustained harm reduction efforts, similar public health logic is rarely applied to sexual health. When condoms are distributed or awareness events held, they are met with suspicion, as if prevention is somehow more offensive than the problem itself. I believe the backlash we keep witnessing is not directed at the acts themselves. Instead, it is about a national discomfort with admitting that young people might be, or eventually will be, sexually active. As if by not talking about sex, we can somehow make it disappear. That could not be further from the truth. What's actually happening is that young people are being left to learn about sex from half-whispered conversations, the Internet, and sometimes, from experience too late. A study conducted in Kelantan found that 64% of adolescents surveyed relied on their peers as their primary source of sexual health information. Meanwhile, official education is fragmented and uneven. A comprehensive review found that sex education is inconsistently delivered, abstinence-focused, and lacking teacher support. Even clinic outreach reflects this stigma. In interviews with school health teams conducted in 2022, many admitted to emphasising moral warnings and fear-based messaging over clear, accurate, and accessible information about sexual health. The consequences of choosing to treat sex as taboo instead of teaching young people how to navigate it safely and responsibly are already here. Nowadays, even teenagers are contracting HIV through sexual transmission. Others face unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and emotional trauma from relationships where consent was never properly understood. For LGBTQ+ youth, the stakes are even higher. Many already face social stigma at home and in school. Without inclusive sexual health education, they are further isolated, left to navigate misinformation and shame with no formal support. All evidence points to the need for comprehensive sex education. As United Nations agency Unicef Malaysia explains, it helps young people understand their bodies, feelings, and relationships in a healthy and informed way. This includes learning about puberty, sexual and reproductive health, and how to protect themselves from unplanned pregnancy, STIs, and abuse. Beyond biology, it equips students with the tools to navigate intimacy with safety, confidence, and respect. Comprehensive sex education also teaches young people how to set boundaries, say no when something feels wrong, and respect the choices of others. Crucially, it removes the shame often tied to these topics. When students are given space to ask questions and speak openly, they grow up more confident, better informed, and more capable of making decisions that protect their health and wellbeing. In Malaysia today, access to sex education is inconsistent. Some students might receive it in schools, depending on how comfortable with it their teachers are. Others might encounter it through workshops by NGOs or youth groups. But many go without entirely. There is an urgency here to embed it in the curriculum and deliver it consistently. It is also possible to adapt sex education to local values. In Tunisia, a Muslim-majority country, the government introduced age-appropriate lessons in 2019 with support from religious leaders and civil society. The curriculum focuses on health, respect, and dignity, proving that sensitive topics can be addressed without compromising cultural or religious beliefs. Much of the work today in Malaysia falls on NGOs, youth-led groups, and individual educators. However, the reach of such methods is limited, and they cannot replace a national policy that commits to protecting every child, in every classroom. More broadly, sex education helps us replace judgement with understanding. The comments on social media left underneath the aforementioned news have been painful, almost unbearable, to read. They speak deeply of a society that has never been taught how to understand difference, how to speak about vulnerability, or how to treat others with basic compassion. We see the impact of stigma in how certain groups are treated: LGBTQ+ people are vilified for seeking HIV care, teenage girls are shamed for getting pregnant, and abuse survivors are blamed instead of supported. Compre-hensive sex education helps break these patterns. It teaches that consent is care, that all bodies and identities deserve respect, and that honest conversations lead to safer, healthier lives. We cannot keep dismissing education efforts while ignoring the deeper crisis unfolding in silence. The rising HIV numbers, the public shaming, and harmful assumptions are symptoms of a society that has refused, for too long, to speak honestly about sex, safety, and dignity. If we truly want to protect our youth, then the conversation must begin now, and it must begin with courage. Student Jonathan Lee traces his writing roots to The Star's BRATs programme. He is now a Malaysian youth advocate. The views expressed here are solely the writer's own.
