Majority of Sri Lankan women infected by husbands

Virtually the entire Aids-infected female population of Sri Lanka contracted the disease from their husbands, it has been revealed.

Figures from the Sri Lankan healthcare and nutrition ministry indicate that 99.9 per cent of women living with the disease in the country were infected by their spouses.

The report, compiled by the ministry's STD/Aids control programme, also raised concern that 72 per cent of schoolchildren over the age of 15 are sexually active, with 43 per cent engaging in heterosexual activity and 29 per cent engaging in homosexual activity.

Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, speaking at the Machinery and Equipment Training Institute, said: "This is a subject we must study carefully before introducing it in the school curriculum.

"We have to be mindful about not only the scientific aspects of the subject but the social, cultural and religious aspects as well before drafting the curriculum. We must decide from what grade or age children must be taught sex education."