KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian AIDS Foundation chairman Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir called on society to stop stigmatising and discriminating against children with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and instead allow them to live in a more conducive environment.
“The public take responsibility and keep up with the latest information. The government needs to increase awareness programmes too. The reality is that there are many children with HIV out there who need our attention,” she said as a special guest on Bernama’s Today programme on Astro 502, here yesterday.
According to the Health Ministry’s statistics, there were 94,841 HIV cases accumulated since 1986 to date with 2,324 of them 19 years and below, and in 2011 alone there were 120 children and youths below 19 among the 3,479 new HIV cases for that year.
Marina encouraged the younger generations to adopt a healthy lifestyle to refrain from behaviour which could spread the disease and also attend awareness campaigns so that they would not stigmatise HIV positive individuals.
As an HIV/AIDS activist, Marina is one of the 26 selected personalities in the ‘L’Oreal Professionnel: Colour For Life Campaign’.
L’Oreal Professionnel and MAF are collaborating on a Charity Hair Cut Drive at the Mid-Valley Centre Court on October 21 and 22. The public can get a haircut for RM20.00 from professional hair stylists to raise funds for children who are infected and affected by HIV. — Bernama