Malaysia makes progress against HIV, but challenges remain

A qualitative insight of HIV/AIDS patients' perspective on disease and disclosure

“…Hence, religious leaders could play an important role in controlling disease epidemics, in view of which in the year 2001. The Malaysian department of religious affairs, JAKIM (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia) had introduced a gradual state by state mandatory premarital HIV screening program for prospective Muslim couples in the country to help in curbing growing epidemics . Similarly, a French study also revealed that people believed that religion (Catholicism) was supposed to protect patients from high‐risk relations, this trend is further confirmed in a South African study which found various strong aspects of spirituality among PLWHA and implicated that such believes should always be contextualized to HIV/AIDS care by health‐care professionals …”

“…Many factors contribute to this high prevalence, from low levels testing and linkage to care and prevention, to poor retention in care and adherence to antiretroviral treatment . Malaysia is a country with extensive cultural and ethnic diversities with range of spiritual traditions and believes, and the epidemic in this country is still concentrated within most‐at‐risk populations (MARPS) especially among IDU (Injecting Drug Users), sex workers and transgender population with a decline in annually reported new cases . Currently Malaysian HIV/AIDS care strategies are focused on reduction in transmission, improvement in quality of care, alleviation of socio‐economic and human impact among PLWHA (People living with HIV and AIDS), reduction in stigma and discrimination with improvement in disease awareness among general population .…”

Premarital HIV testing in Malaysia: a qualitative exploratory study on the views of major stakeholders involved in HIV prevention

“…One country that has a policy of mandatory premarital HIV testing of prospective Muslim married couples is Malaysia [12]. Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim majority country is defined as having a concentrated epidemic amongst high-risk groups such as, Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Sex Workers (SW) and Transgender women (TG) [13, 14].…”

Beliefs and practices of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among HIV/AIDS patients: A qualitative exploration

“…[22] However significant changing trends in disease epidemics can still be seen as the disease spread pattern progressively shifted towards increasing infection rates in female with male/female ratio from 9.6 in 2000 to 4.5 in 2010 to 3.7 in 2013. [21] For the present study participants were randomly selected from the outpatient infectious disease clinics between January and May 2013.…”