SINGAPORE: A new Care for the Families Fund was launched on Thursday in conjunction with World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1st.

The Fund is the first of its kind in Singapore and it has been initiated by Rockeby biomed, the distributor of OraQuick Oral HIV test kits.

It aims to provide social assistance to financially-stricken families with family members affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

To kick-start the Fund, the company has contributed S$5,000. It has also pledged 50 cents to the Fund from the sale of every Oral HIV test kit over the next three years.

Present at the launch was Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Information, Communications and the Arts. He stressed the importance of testing and early treatment, and expressed hope that the kit can be readily available for the public.

"We've to find a way to save lives by having people diagnosed early because if they are diagnosed early, they can go on medication to prevent complications," said Dr Balaji.

"So there are two ways we have to do this - one, we have to educate our doctors and our hospitals so that they're aware of HIV and they diagnose patients early; second way is to educate the public, and to encourage them to have more testing.

"With self test kits, it's possible to know if they're positive or not within 20 minutes, so this is something we can encourage and I hope eventually, we'll reach a stage where HIV testing will be very much like pregnancy testing.

"Today, you can buy pregnancy test kits at 7-Eleven and I hope MOH (Ministry of Health) will study this HIV testing and make it available more readily for the public."

As of end-June this year, there are 3,224 HIV patients in Singapore. It is estimated that 61 per cent of HIV-positive women were infected by their husbands.

Among the infected HIV-positive heterosexuals, it is usually the men who are infected first. They then spread the virus to their spouses subsequently.

Families affected are estimated to spend more than 50 per cent of their household income on HIV treatment for both husband and wife. This adds to the financial hardship and burden of the family.

The Fund, which is run by the Action for AIDS Singapore, hopes to lessen the financial burden of affected families.

According to Dr Tan Sze-Wee, CEO of Rockeby biomed, patients and their families will be screened by medical social workers, who will then put up the application to the Action for AIDS Singapore.

Successful applications will see the families receiving S$200 from the Fund, or up to a maximum of S$400 a year.

- CNA/yb