Press Releases
Update On The HIV/AIDS Situation In Singapore 2000
22 November 2000
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22 Nov 2000
New cases of HIV infection reported this year
In the first ten months of 2000, another 189 Singaporeans were detected to be HIV infected. About 86% of the new cases detected this year were males and 14% were females.
Sexual transmission remains the main mode of HIV infection among Singaporeans. Of the 189 cases reported this year, almost 97% acquired the infection through the sexual route with heterosexual transmission accounting for 86% of infections, homosexual transmission 5% and bisexual transmission 6%. The remaining 3% were due to intravenous drug use (2%) and perinatal transmission (1%). Among those who acquired the infection through the sexual route, about 83% had sexual exposure to prostitutes (locally and overseas) and/or casual sex partners.
Those aged between 30 to 49 years of age accounted for about 65% of all new cases reported this year. Those aged between 20 to 29 years and 50 to 59 years each accounted for about 13% of new cases this year. Half of the new cases were single while about 35% were married, 11% were divorced and 4% were widowed.
Total number of HIV infected Singaporeans
This brings the total number of HIV infected Singaporeans to 1325 as at 31 October 2000 (Table 1). Of these, 543 were asymptomatic carriers, 320 have full-blown AIDS and 462 have died.
Heterosexual transmission has been the most common mode of HIV transmission among Singaporeans since 1991 (Table 2). Most of these cases contracted the infection through casual sex and sex with prostitutes in Singapore and overseas.
The majority (1164 cases) of the HIV infected Singaporeans were males and 161 were females (Table 3) giving a sex ratio of seven males to one female. Among the males, 64% were single. For the females, however, the majority (68%) were married.
About 84% were Chinese, 7% were Malays, 5% were Indians and 4% Others (Table 4). About 20% of the HIV infected Singaporeans were working in the sales and service sector and another 20% were production craftsman and plant/machine assemblers (Table 6).
(Table 5: HIV Infected Singaporeans by Age and Sex)
MINISTRY'S ADVICE
The Ministry would like to emphasise that the only way to avoid AIDS is to remain faithful to one's spouse and to avoid casual sex and sex with prostitutes. A HIV infected person looks and feels normal during the early stage of the infection. It is therefore not possible to tell if a person is infected or not by looking at his/her appearance.
The Ministry would also like to remind those who are at risk of being infected with the HIV virus not to donate blood. Those who are at risk of being infected are advised to see their doctors for HIV screening. All women who are pregnant are also encouraged to go for HIV screening so that measures to prevent transmission from mother to infant could be taken early for those who are found to be HIV infected. The Ministry would like to assure that the identities of persons who come forward for testing and those who are found to be HIV positive will be kept strictly confidential.