Health experts have revealed that 30% of new cases of HIV in Malaysia are among women.
And in a worrying trend, most of those cases involve married women who contracted the disease from their husbands.
The World Health Organisation said the latest figure is a 400% increase from just five years ago.
The figure has set alarm bells ringing among government officials and medical professionals, as women have overtaken homosexuals and drug users as those most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
Kamal Malhotra, UN coordinator for Malaysia, said: "It has brought a new set of issues that we need to deal with and it is becoming more complex and urgent now."
"It is no longer multiple-sex partners or homosexuals (that are the sources of infection). What was once considered safe sex in the home is now the main source of infection," said Hisham Hussein, chairman of PT Foundation, an activist group involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and which was behind the event.
Although no in-depth research has been undertaken yet on the new alarming trend, medical experts and rights activists are pinning the blame on poor HIV/AIDS awareness among young people and husbands engaging the services of sex workers.
Copyright © Press Association 2009