EQUAL RESPONSIBILITY IN PREVENTING HIV/AIDS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Bernama) -- Advocating equal sharing of
responsibilities between men and women in preventing HIV/Aids is a major
priority on the national agenda, said Women, Family and Community Development
Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen.

She said such equal sharing was intrinsically linked to a country's overall
national development, from roles at the basic societal structure as encompassed
in the family, to the larger community structures and leading to political
decision-making.

"What has not been so clear for the international community and countries
however, is to implement our past commitments, and to translate the notion of
equal sharing into something tangible," she said at the 53rd Session of the
Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

The text of her speech was faxed to Bernama Thursday.

Ng said gender stereotypes continued to remain real barriers to the notion
of equal sharing and the overall goal of the advancement of women.

"The government of Malaysia places the utmost importance on gender
equality and Malaysian women have made significant progress in various fields,
such as in
the education, health and economic sectors," she added.

She said the number of women infected with HIV/Aids in Malaysia had
proportionately increased from 1.2 per cent of total new cases in 1990 to 16.4
per cent in 2007, which most of the HIV infections among women occurred as a
result of sexual transmission from their spouses.

"The biological vulnerability of the female makes it more important that
both men and women take equal responsibility in preventing the spread of HIV
among women," she said.

Ng said Malaysian women often had to assume the role as head of household,
breadwinner and single parent while possibly carrying the burden of care for
other family members in single-women headed households.

"As the role of care giving in many societies often falls upon women, it is
crucial that in the intersection of care giving and HIV/Aids, women are given
the utmost support.

"Here, we stress that men should be sensitised and be involved in
shouldering their responsibility in care giving," she said.

-- BERNAMA