Enemy in the blanket

By: Sharinya, Harees, Peria & Fazlie

HIV, AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, and so on; all of this diseases has one thing in common, they are an indisputably form of Sexually Transmitted Disease or STD according to KPJ Health Care.

With consensus coming from the Ministry of Health Malaysia saying that this type of diseases is increasing among young adults in Malaysia, we the #Hashtag team decided to do our own survey on this related topic among young adults aged between 17 to 24 years old on their opinion about the disease itself.

What we have found is quite surprising with most of the people surveyed has no idea what, how, and the remedy for STDs related diseases.

Tae Shin Hua, a 22 year old communication student said “I have never really heard of it”, further surprised that base on #Hashtag information, HIV and AIDS is also a type of STD related diseases.

“I think STD is something to do with a medicine’s name if I’m not mistaken,” said by another student Jasmine, 20 years old.

“I’m aware of it, for sure, but that comes from reading articles in magazines,” said Vidhiveli, a 21 year old business student.

“I never felt that school had thought me anything regarding how to prevent sexual transmitted diseases and that sex is kind of a taboo thing when I was younger,” continued Vidhiveli.

Overall, based on our interview with over 30 students from multiple colleges, almost 90% of them do not know what STD is, let alone on how to prevent it.

According to Dr Jenani Ratnam, “STDs or Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is the transmission of inflectional diseases from an infected individual through sexual contact, and
that it can be spread to other individual through vaginal, oral and anal sex, or any other type of insertion including needle use”.

She continued to say that ‘these diseases can be affected by both female and male of that there are also other diseases that can be transmitted through sex such as Cancroid, Nonspecific Urethritis (NSU), Pelvis Inflammatory Disease, Genital Warts or Carcinoma of cervix’.

Are there symptoms to these diseases? ‘Yes, but they differ with the type of disease but the common one include discomfiture during the release of fluid from the penis and vagina, itchiness around the genitalia area, pain ( stabbing or burning) during urinating or sexual intercourse, pain in the oral sex area or may have blisters in the genital area,’ said the doctor.

She then continued to mention that ‘there may be rashes in the palm of the infected individual’s hand and at the sole of their feet with fever, muscles ache and swollen lymph nodes to come with STD related diseases’.

In other regards, Liew Eng, a 52 year old doctor and general practitioner said ‘to prevent this disease from spreading, it is crucial that people, be it young or old, take early and frequent diagnose of themselves to detect the disease early on and use contraceptive such as condoms and latex for protection.’

He further said ‘if these diseases were to be prolonged, it can lead to severe consequences to one’s health as well others, especially if the person is sexually active with multiple partners.

In retrospective, Dr. Eng also stress that sex education in Malaysia are not adequately provided to young Malaysians, ‘with just little to barely any knowledge, many cases had lead people to be sexually active at a very young age with little awareness of the protection available’.

In response to these comments, we the #Hashtag team further ourselves to question the psychological aspect of being sexually active and the result of being so from a renowned psychologist in SEGI, Dr Shankar, and this is what he has to say.

Is being sexually active at a young age wrong? ‘Well, being sexually active at a young age is very common, as most people undergo puberty; the inner self creates this craving of yearning to procreate and that mostly everyone desires it,’ said by Dr Shankar.

What is your take on being sexual active at a young age? Dr Shankar stated that ‘In comparing to other country such as Unites States, US younger population are likely to have sex at a more early age, as it is a norm to their culture. Here in Malaysia the culture says that it is wrong, as we are all bound by it; hence, unmarried young adults tend to have guilty feelings, whenever they think about having sex as they might bring shame to their family’s name.’

Is sex at a young age really that bad? ‘To be frank, being sexually active is not a bad thing; it helps to build relationships between partners as well as giving health benefits both psychological and physical aspects,’ he said.

Are there any negative aspects to suppress your sexual desires? From Dr Shankar’s opinion, truth of the matter is, people are always going to have sex, it is a natural thing, in light of cases involving young adult being pregnant before marriage. He mentioned “I belief in combination of the lack of knowledge as well as sexual tension which has built up over the years, has led to many young adults to have unprotected sex early on.”

“In short, I strongly urge that people who are actively participating in sex to be knowledgeable as well as considering the consequences it will bring to those of them,” is what said and suggested by Dr Shankar.