BBC News - Monday, 10 September, 2001
Health Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Alias Ali said emotionally immature young people should be protected because Malaysia's future depended on them.
Launching a programme intended to warn young people about the dangers of HIV and Aids he said 40,049 people in Malaysia were confirmed to be infected with HIV, and of those, 40% fell in the 13 - 29-year-old age group.
"These young people... their present lifestyle exposed them to the risk of HIV infection," he told the opening session of the National Prostar Convention in Kuala Lumpur.
Asia's HIV infection rates lie well behind those of Africa but they are growing rapidly.
The epidemic in most Asian countries first began among drug users, where infection rates soared from 1% to 40% among some drug-injecting communities in just one year.
Malaysian health officials have complained in the past of difficulties in getting people to pay attention to the problem
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