WHAT YOUNG
MALAYSIANS SAY ABOUT
HIV/AIDS
Professor Dr. Sarinah WY Low, Ph.D
Professor of Psychology
Health Research Development Unit (HeRDU)
University of Malaya Medical Center
Kuala Lumpur
National Advocacy Seminar for Media on HIV/AIDS Prevention
Langkawi, 7-8th July 2006
Introduction
• HIV/AIDS  most challenging disease threat in modern
times (fatal, no cure + uncertain window period + potential
for spreading infections by carrier)
• Majority of HIV infections globally are due to sexual
transmission. Is this true for Malaysia ???
• Due to the crisis nature of HIV/AIDS pandemic, efforts in
fighting this disease should be intensified – through
Education / media campaigns, Changing the social / physical
environment and Enforcement / Legislation (where
necessary).
• Apart from Government, NGOs & the community, the
media is very important in helping to curb the spread of
HIV/AIDS because it can affect anybody.
Reported new HIV infections,
AIDS cases, and AIDS death in Malaysia
• An average of
500 to 600
reported
cases/month.
• More than
7,000 have
died
Reported cumulative HIV cases
by risk categories in Malaysia,
1986-2002
• Of total reported
cases, 76% IDUs
– Ie. sharing needles
• Heterosexual
(12%)
– unprotected sex
– multiple sexual
partner
Together they account for 88% of HIV infections!
Ministry of Health, 2004
Persons living with HIV/AIDS in Malaysia
1990,1995 and 2005:
71,000+ infectors !
Persons living with HIV/AIDS
Source: Ministry of Health 2003
Reported HIV infections by ethnicity
and risk factors in Malaysia, 2002
• Majority Malays
and Indians – get it
from IDU’s
• Most Chinese
Malaysian- get it
from heterosexual
route
Age-group distribution of new
HIV/AIDS and cases in Malaysia, 2003
Distribution of new HIV and AIDS cases in Malaysia, 2003
Age
Groups
<13
13-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
≥ 50
unknown
T Total
O
T
A
L
New HIV cases
No.
%
New AIDS cases
No.
%
Cumulative HIV
No.
%
Cumulative AIDS
No.
%
61
78
2192
2819
1246
304
56
0.90
1.15
32.45
41.73
18.44
45.0
0.83
19
4
210
485
255
97
6
1.77
0.37
19.52
45.07
23.7
9.01
0.56
464
902
21295
24791
8281
1596
683
0.8
1.55
36.71
42.73
14.27
2.75
1.18
134
190
1727
3723
1882
609
29
1.62
2.29
20.82
44.89
22.69
7.34
0.35
6756
100
1076
100
58012
100
8294
100
Source: Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2004
The Study : Protecting
Young Malaysians from
HIV/AIDS and STIs
• Assess the knowledge, Attitudes and
Behavior of young people on HIV/AIDS
and STIs prevention
• Assess the capacity of family life educators
and peer group members
Commissioned
FFPAM
Consultants
Tey Nai Peng
Low Wah Yun
Mary Huang
Sponsored
UNFPA
Methods
• Questionnaire Survey  self-administered
– Young people (6,564)
– Family life educators (86) & peer group
members (251)
• Qualititative study (focus groups) 
family life educators (7 FGDs = 61) & peer
group members (10 FGDs = 91)
Respondents characteristics
• Kelantan (1874), Melaka (1,668), Penang
(2,982) & Langkawi (193)
• 6,564 young people  primary (393),
secondary school (5,426) students, higher
learning institutions (681), factory workers
(51), Pusat Serenti (13)
• 82% between 13- 18 years (median 15 yrs)
• Females (4,198) > males (2,366)
Percent of youths who have
heard of HIV and STIs
100
80
60
47.9
37.8
35
33.5
39.7
40
20
0
All
Kelantan
Melaka
Penang
Langkawi
HIV
STIs
Mean score on the knowledge
of HIV transmission
7.8 7.7
7.8
7.6
7.4
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
7.1 7.2
6.9
6.8
6.5 6.5
Kelantan
Melaka
Penang Langkawi
All Respondents
Secondary school
Percent who provided incorrect response
to the modes of HIV transmission
42.5
45
43.6
42.3
40
33.4
35
29
30
24.8 23
25
20
15
14.8 13.9
10.8
10
5
0
)
s) o)
o)
o) es) es) o) es) No) es
e
(Y r (N
(Y s (N ir (N (Y (Y o (N (Y s (
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it
rs
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ug cu gh rke atio qu bab han ndo eth
r
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g
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g
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u
of arin hro x w do Mo r to ing t co g to
n
e
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T s e od
h
io Sh
o
t
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o
th Li
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c
H
i
h
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e
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i
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w
w
In
x
e
x
s
Se
g
n
i
av
H
• 55% respondents  HIV person can be identified
• 47% respondents  HIV can be cured
• Unaware of the consequences of unprotected sex
– 32.7% STIs
– 27.1% unwanted pregnancy
– 18.5% HIV
• Young people most likely to mention that parents
(86.3%), followed by health workers (76.8%),
friends (69%), schoolmates (64.3%) as persons
whom they turn to for help from risky behavior
Health personnel
Community
leaders/volunteers
Relatives
Peer educat ors
Friends
Workshop/Seminar
Internet
Pamphlets
Magazines
Newspapers
Television
Radio
School
From where they obtained
Information on HIV/AIDS
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Sources of Information on
HIV/AIDS and STIs
70
61.4
59.3
60
48.1
50
40
44.2
37.7
35
29.4
26.7
30
25.8
HIV
19.6
18.7
20
15.1
10
0
s
s
er
se
r
r
u
ctu
/n
e
l
s
/
r
rs
to
c
e
ch
Do
a
Te
Si
gs
n
i
bl
F
ds
n
rie
r
he
t
Fa
M
r
he
t
o
STIs
Preferred Sources of Information
70
60
50
40
30
HIV
20
STIs
10
0
s
se
ur
n
/
rs
to
D
oc
s
a
Te
er
h
c
gs
il n
b
Si
i
Fr
ds
n
e
he
t
Fa
r
he
t
o
r
M
Access to IEC and training
materials on HIV/STIs
60
58.1
45.8
50
40
33.7 34.9
HIV IEC
HIV Training
30
21.1
20
STIs IEC
STIs Training
17.9
15.1
7.6
10
0
FLE
Peer Group
Sources of IEC materials
on HIV/AIDS
90
80
86
72
68.7
70
60
48
50
41.7
FLE Educator
40
Peer group
27.8
30
24
24
18.3
18.3
20
14
10
0
OH
M
AM
P
FF
M
AC
Os
G
N
t
ne
r
te
In
r
te
n
I
n
t io
a
n
al
9.6
Sources of training materials
on HIV/AIDS
89.7
90
80
70
62.1 60.4
60
49.1
50
37.9
40
FLE Educator
32.1
30
24.5
20.7 22.6
20
Peer group
17.2
13.8
5.7
10
0
M
H
O
FF
M
A
P
AC
M
N
s
O
G
n
er
t
In
et
al
n
t io
a
n
er
t
In
Percent who felt that they have sufficient
knowledge to protect young people
from HIV and STIs
70
61.6
60
52.2
50
50
40
FLE Educator
30.7
30
20
10
0
HIV
STIs
Peer group
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE WANT?
• Improving knowledge on HIV/AIDS among the
youths and educators
– Knowledge tends to be superficial
– Not aware of specific modes of transmissions myths
and misconceptions about disease  perpetuate stigma &
discrimination
– Need to educate young people & teach them life skills 
negotiation, conflict resolution, critical thinking,
decision-making & communication, improve selfconfidence & ability to make informed choices,
postponing sex until they are mature
– Increasing knowledge thro schools, communities, media
Putting knowledge into practice :
Life skills
“Self-discipline. Now, they know that is wrong and then
sometimes the need is there. So, what am I going to do?
Well, think of the consequences, may be, they don’t or
they know also, if I do this, but then…am… the self
discipline is not strong enough, you know…”
“Personal weaknesses could be like we ourselves are
not open minded or we ourselves felt that we don’t
have enough skill, your own values, you know,
unconsciously, you sort of pass over your
own values to the other person”
• Improving the IEC materials and
sources of information
– Some aspects of HIV/AIDS are not known or
understood by young people
– Many do no have access to IEC and training
materials on the disease
– There is a need to improve materials and make
them widely available
• Printed materials  animated, contains lots of
humor, entertaining, and should also contained
articles and stories in Youth section of any
newspapers or magazines for young people, eg.
in the Didik section, Galaxie, Seventeen, GilaGila, Cleo, etc.
• Electronic materials  simple and short,
meaningful, and should be made available during
commercial slots in the televisions. It should also
be linked up with MTV station, cartoon network,
Star World, AXN, Radio-Hitz.Fm or Mixed FM.
• Strengthening the capacity of FLE educators
and peer group members
– Interactions with young people play an important role in
creating greater awareness and sharing of knowledge on
HIV/AIDS with friends
– Need to recruit and retain more FLE educators and peer
group members
• Using various IEC/BCC channels to affect
behavioral change
– Inability of young people to see themselves as being
vulnerable
– Need to create a greater sense of urgency to combat this
disease
– Emphasize the importance of interesting and fun-filled
activities to affect behavioral change amongst young
people  youth friendly IEC/BCC package
Importance of Peer Educators
“Rakan sebaya, bagi saya, mudah untuk membuat
perbincangan. Dibandingkan dengan ibu bapa, pemikian
mereka lain. Dengan rakan sebaya, komunikasi lebih
senang dan selesa”
“Because peer members can communicate better and are more
understanding with each other, there are no problems with
generation gap, and they are important in spreading
information and are usually accepted by peer members”
“Biasanya dan kebanyakan umur manjadi ‘gap’. It is hard to
communicate. Oleh itu, perlu cari umur yang sesuai untuk
memberi khidmat nasihat. Maksud saya, cari remaja yang
ada ‘knowledge’ untuk berbincang”
• Reaching out and encouraging the involvement
of young people
– More innovative and interesting ways to create
awareness and empowering young people  youth
camps, drama, PROSTAR activities, outreach programs,
co-curriculum activities, school clubs and societies,
community programs, private sector (factories)
– Involve more young people in planning, organizing and
implementing of various activities
– Need to identify target groups for intervention with
appropriate programs and strategies
– Conduct training and counseling sessions on family life,
reproductive health and HIV/AIDS to participants of
National Service, Rakan Muda, Boy Scouts, St. Johns
• Promoting and encouraging the involvement of
parents, health care providers, teachers &
communities
– Most young people have cited parents, health care
providers and teachers as persons whom they can turn to
for help form risky behavior.
– They need the support of adults participation as
educators in HIV/AIDS among the general population
by discussion these issues via forums within the broader
scope of reproductive health, health lifestyles, positive
values, family well being and social development.
– There is a need to develop strategies, programs and
activities targeted at parents (eg. parent-teachers
association, social clubs), health care providers and
teachers
Parents played an important role in
educating and empowering young people
“Sometimes parents must be open. Family also need
to have a knowledge because mereka lagi dekat dengan
anak-anak. Remaja dan keluarga penting dalam
memberi ilmu kepada remaja dalam menyelesaikan
masalah dan memberi panduan kepada mereka
untuk menyelesaikan masalah”
• Strengthen partnerships & multi-sectoral
collaboration between government agencies,
NGOs, civil societies including faith based
organizations, private sectors and the
community
• Media to play a greater role in getting the
preventive messages across
“Remaja banyak tengok TV dan sebagainya. Contoh,
Akademi Fantasia, masuklah mesej. Selitkan dalam
muzik juga. Biar dia orang yang sampaikan maklumat
tentang hal ini.”
CONCLUSIONS
• Young people  center of epidemic in terms of
HIV transmission, vulnerability, impact and
potential for change
• Young people has the right to youth-friendly
information, skills and services for HIV
prevention
• Young people are not only the beneficiaries of
interventions, but also key resource in the
planning, design and implementation of programs
• Need to scale up efforts in meet the urgent needs
of young people
“Young people are and will remain at the front lines
of combating the global AIDS pandemic, however,
we can and must do more. We must be bold and
assume leadership in breaking the conspiracy of
silence and shame that drives AIDS underground
and stigmatizes PLWHA”
Youth position paper on the 2001
United Nations General Assembly
Special Session on HIV/AIDS
THANK YOU