Women should be allowed to refuse sex if they know their husbands suffer from HIV, a minister said in remarks published today.

"There have been cases of wives being forced to have sex with their husbands although they realise they run the risk of being infected with HIV," Sharizat Abdul Jalil, Women and Family Development Minister was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.

Malaysian AIDS Council president Marina Mahathir said religious leaders in mainly-Muslim Malaysia should support the proposal.

"The problem is that our culture does not allow wives to say no to sex and this ought to change," she said.

Sharizat said the reported number of human immunodeficiency virusinfections among women surged 35 percent in 2002 from 2001, but gave no figures. - AFP