HIV cases in Malta seen as tip of the iceberg

A health promotion officer yesterday said tens, possibly hundreds of people in Malta have HIV but don't know it.

Speaking at the university students' common room on the occasion of World Aids Day, Roderick Bugeja, from the Health Promotion Department, said 58 cases of HIV had been reported in Malta since the early 1980s, and these had resulted in 51 deaths.

Though the number was small when compared to international statistics, the figure did not reflect the "real" number of people who were HIV-positive, as most would have encountered the disease without knowing it.

He explained that the HIV virus lay dormant for a number of years and people only realised they were infected when Aids symptoms broke out.

He said people could seek information or completely confidential testing for HIV and other sexually transitted infections at the genito-urinary clinic at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital.

Matthew Fenech, president of the Malta Medical Students' Association, said it was important to campaign in favour of preventing the spread of the disease, which claims millions of lives every year.

The number of people living with HIV in 2004 totalled 39.4 million, 2.2 million of whom are children under 15 years of age. Women are two-and-a-half times more prone to be infected with HIV than men, which was why the United Nations had chosen Women, Girls, HIV and Aids as this year's theme.

Abstinence from sexual encounters was the best prevention, followed by being faithful to one's partner, using a condom as a contraceptive and avoiding the use of drugs, MMSA campaigners said.

But besides informing the public on how not to get HIV, they said the aim was to overcome an existing prejudice against people with HIV or AIDS.

Sandro Mangion, from the Malta Gay Rights Movement, said everyone - heterosexuals and gays - ought to use discretion and responsibility when it came to sex.

Mr Mangion said the prejudice had arisen at a time when hardly any information existed on HIV and AIDS, and when the disease was commonly known as Gays' Disease.