I would like to this opportunity to welcome all delegates of this workshop to warm and charming Malaysia. HIV/AIDS is the most serious epidemic confronting the world of late. Besides having devastating impact on society, HIV has also been a major problem plaguing young people.

In most Asian countries HIV infection is highest among young people. Out of the estimated 1.7 billion young people worldwide (between the ages of 10 and 24), 11.8 million are currently estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. Each year it is estimated that over 2.6 million young people contract the virus through unsafe sexual contact or through drug use. In recent years over half of all new HIV infections - about 7,000 every day - are among youth aged 15-24, the same age group that also has the highest rate (11 million).

There is ABOUT 50,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Malaysia today and a proportion of this includes young people. Stigma with respect to HIV/AIDS comes mostly from hostility about the disease. The lack of understanding of the disease, prejudice towards different races, gender equality. Fears about sexuality and value-based judgments are some of the triggers that provoke misunderstanding of the disease. As such people living with HIV/AIDS tend to be side stabbed in every sphere of life.

It therefore gives me great pleasure to know that there has been so much enthusiasm on the part of young people not only from the ASEAN region but from other regions as well to participate in this workshop. This workshop, as I understand constitutes a significant step of establishing a regional network for young people and stakeholders to remain connected through an electronic forum which will be modeled under existing similar networks.

I would therefore take this opportunity to thank the organizers the World Youth Foundation, the Ministry of Health Malaysia, the ASEAN Secretariat, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Malaysia, World Assembly of Youth and the Malaysian AIDS Council for their collaboration in organizing this workshop.

Thank you.