Adopt Code on HIV/AIDS, Firms Urged

KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. – For every prostitute with HIV/AIDS, there are two

civil servants and eight factory workers with the disease.

There are also four long-distance drivers, four private sector workers

and seven fishermen for each prostitute among the 65,000 Malaysians

diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

According to the Health Ministry’s Disease Control Division, more than

one in 10 people known to be HIV-positive have regular jobs.

Roughly 7,300 HIV-positive people work in factories, offices,

government departments and elsewhere.

This was why more workplaces should adopt a 2001 code of practice on

how to deal with the disease, said Human Resources Ministry

secretary-general Datuk Dr P. Manogran (picture).

So far, only 30 companies had adopted the Code of Practice on

Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS at the Workplace, he said today.

The code outlines how HIV/AIDS policies are developed. It also includes

employers’ responsibilities, including preventing discrimination and

stigmatisation, and keeping the medical details of HIV-positive employees

confidential.

Manogran was speaking at the start of a three-day seminar on

initiatives in Asean member countries to prevent HIV/AIDS in the

workplace.

There were fewer than 400 prostitutes, or 0.6 per cent, among

HIV-positive Malaysians last year, according to the division.

Housewives outnumber these sex workers by more than three to one –

there are roughly 1,200 HIV-positive housewives, or 1.9 per cent.

The majority, or almost 53 per cent, of HIV/AIDS sufferers are

unemployed or are odd-job workers.