The number of women infected with HIV/Aids is on the rise in mainly-Muslim Malaysia and the majority of them are housewives, a report said today.

"Looking at the trend, the number of women being infected is on the rise and is a cause for concern," Malaysian Aids Council president Adeeba Kamarulzaman was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times .

In 1994 women accounted for an estimated 0.9 percent of Malaysians living with Aids, but by the end of 2004 this figure surged to seven percent, she said.

Between 1986 and June last year, a total of 4,841 women were diagnosed with HIV/Aids, said the New Straits Times citing health ministry statistics.

The public has always perceived that the majority of the HIV-positive women were sex workers but studies have proved otherwise, she said. Among the women infected, 1,628 were housewives while only 406 were sex workers.

A 37-year-old mother of two, whose husband died of Aids some five years ago, said she still finds it hard to forgive him and his family for concealing his condition when they got married.

"If I had known it earlier, I definitely would not have married him," she was quoted as saying.

'The pain is great'

The woman, who wanted to be known as Che Tom, said she was angry after she was infected with HIV by her husband.

"The pain is great...all I want to do now is to bring up my two girls who are lucky as they were not infected."

Leading AIDS activist Marina Mahathir, daughter of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, said: "The issue of women and HIV/Aids is hidden but it's there."

Marina said up to nine women are diagnosed with the disease every month in Kota Bharu, the capital of northeast Kelantan state, a staunchly conservative state and the only one ruled by the hardline Islamic opposition.

"Who knows what is happening elsewhere?" she said.