One new case of AIDS, 11 of HIV, this year

lgalea

Dec 1st 2009, 23:40

Charles Sammut
You are perfectly correct.

anthea doughty

Dec 1st 2009, 20:23

Safe sex goes beyond merely using a condom for the actual act of intercourse. It means that other forms of sexual contact have to be abstained from altogether. There are the moral and religious issues of course, but as has already been said, people are never going to abstain until married/in long term relationships etc. The only way forward is to ensure that your youth receive comprehensive sex education including the risks aspect and a public awareness campaign. Oh and of course, total abstinence from sexual relations with African immigrants! I bet a lot of your unwanted visitors would test positive for HIV - a future health risk and ever greater drain on your financial and medical resources.

Gerry Cowie

Dec 1st 2009, 19:55

Protection is important and has to be taken into account.
Also, is it not also incumbent upon parents to also teach their children self control?
Saying no has been covered in the blogs below, and perhaps this relates to it.
What about the adults involved? They are not children! Does nobody have the power to say no?

Charles Sammut

Dec 1st 2009, 17:53

The reason why this year's figures were much lower than last year's is because fewer illegal immigrants arrived this year.

Since illegal immigrants are not routinely tested, the figure is much higher than the official one. HIV can lie latent and dormant for years before obvious symptoms present.

Joseph Calleja

Dec 1st 2009, 17:02

Protection, protection, protection. It's about time Malta start teaching Sex Education in schools and homes to kids, maybe even include some adults in the program. The HIV Virus (AIDS) is a very deadly disease and can easily kill you or maim you for life. The HIV virus is mostly transmitted through sex and in these modern days that can be prevented, oh yes abstinence, but you know that's not going to happen. So the next best thing, if you must have sex, use condoms. To all those women having casual sex, you have to make sure the male uses a condom or refuse to have sex with him, this could save your life. When these illegal immigrants started arriving at Malta, the threat of aids on the island multiplied, this is a fact. two thirds of African people are infected with the Aids Virus, that's why I always insisted that every illegal immigrant should be checked for aids upon arrival. Ladies please don't let ANY MAN pass this awful disease on to you, NO CONDOM, NO SEX, and be strict about it. Remember you can also pass this awful decease to your unborn child.

david borg

Dec 1st 2009, 15:15

it would be interesting to have an epidemiological break down of transmission i.e. how many are homo/bi sexual, heterosexual, whether tranmission occured as a result of sex or drug use etc. for example, in 2002, Dr Charles Mallia Azzopardi had explained that 65% are homo/bi sexual, the rest were heterosexuals, blood product recipients and only a couple are drug addicts.

G. Fenech

Dec 1st 2009, 13:49

This emphasises that we need a proper sexual education curriculum for our children. And in spite of the church thinking that condoms actually cause aids, i think that most of the population would agree that in fact it is quite the opposite.

We have to stop saying "this will never happen to us in Malta" and "my children never have sex" as it will, and they do. Forewarned is forearmed. The more foreigners come to Malta, the higher the chance that the diseases spread, and without proper education and availability of condoms, the problem will only get worse.

Its time to start thinking about this very seriously, although the Govt would never really take a proper stance on it as they're too much of a ...... cat.

Its up to you to protect your children. Speak up.