Speaking yesterday from Geneva, where he headed a UNAids working committee, Mongkol said the gender issue would later be formulated into laws, which would give legal protection to wives or girlfriends whose husbands or boyfriends refused to use condoms during sex.

"Women should be given a legal right to bargain for the use of a condom. The use of a condom should not be based solely on trust. There must be guarantees for protection against heath risks," he added.

A UNAids survey found over 60 per cent of female Aids patients in developed Asian countries got the disease from their husbands. Emphasis on family love would thus be used to boost men's morality and to encourage them not to seek sex services or have extra-marital affairs.

The female Aids statistic was in contrast to 27 years ago, when Aids hit Asia hardest, when nearly 80 per cent of Aids patients were men who contracted the disease from female sex workers.