Fatimah: STD cases on downtrend last year

Fatimah speaking at the press conference. – Photo by Henrietta Liza

KUCHING (March 22): Sarawak’s cases of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) such as gonorrhoea, syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have shown a declining trend last year, said Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

The Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister, without disclosing any figure, said this could be due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the cause remained under study.

“We have not yet been able to confirm why the declining trend, or it could be due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she told a press conference at her office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur in Petra Jaya here yesterday.

Fatimah said her ministry is assessing the need to hold prevention programmes such as offering screening and treatment to ‘key population’.

She said they will also carry out health education programmes for teenagers in secondary schools as well as special health education programmes for the community at large.

To prevent STDs, she said the relevant agency namely the Health Department needs to identify the root cause of the problem.

According to her, the Health Department has said that it lacked the resources to work on identifying the root cause.

To help address the matter, she felt that there is a need for the department to collaborate with academicians and members of the Social Development Council.

She said both parties could work together in conducting studies on assessing the social economic impact on STD cases.

“In the past, especially in the Peninsular Malaysia, STD cases were related to drug abuse. But in Sarawak, it is due to sexual behaviour which is a more dominant cause.

“Sexual behaviour begins in adolescents with HIV transmission among homosexuals and bisexuals. This is the latest finding in collaboration with non-governmental organisations whose members are ‘key population’ which help us track this group,” she said.

Fatimah said the Health Department aimed at promoting safe sexual behaviour among homosexuals and bisexuals as well as encouraging early detection of HIV so that they can seek treatment.

She added that it is outside the jurisdiction of the department to prevent such sexual activities, which should help bring down the STD cases.

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