Religious Groups Help Spread AIDS Awareness, Safe Sex Message

This article, published on the Channel NewAsia website, describes safe-sex education programmes being
adopted by Buddhist, Muslim and Christian religious organisations in Singapore. The move, according to
the author, follows discussions between these organisations and the Health Ministry.



The author describes programmes with varying emphasis on safe-sex, abstinence and faithfulness. One Muslim leader
is quoted as describing how within their programme, two approaches are combined for youth who may be more exposed to the pandemic: "One is to talk with them about the religious aspect of the issue, the second is
to talk to them about the health issue, about HIV."



Despite the varied approaches - both between and within religious groups - the
author notes that all groups seem to agree that the campaigns such as those
"where activists walk around dressed up as life-sized condoms" should
not be used in Singapore, as they are believed to trivialise the seriousness of the epidemic.