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"AIDS ‘success story’ scares Asia"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(30/11/05)
BANGKOK: Thailand, repeatedly cited by international agencies as a success
story in the fight against HIV/AIDS, is offering a new lesson these days.
“If Thailand is a success story imagine what failure is like,” said Senator
Mechai Viravaidya, whose family planning and anti-AIDS campaigning has made
his name synonymous with condoms in Thailand.
Thailand, a country notorious for its commercial sex industry, was one of
the first Asian nations to acknowledge it had a serious HIV/AIDS problem in
the early 1990s and to do something about it.
In 1991 and 1992, HIV/AIDS education programmes were initiated on radio,
public television and in schools; government-funded free condoms were handed
out to brothels nationwide; non-governmental organisations received public
funding to fight AIDS; and the prime minister was made chairman of the
National AIDS Committee.
The World Bank, in a recent study, estimated that the campaign prevented 6.6
million Thais from contracting the virus and saved the country US$18.6bil
(RM70.4bil) in healthcare.
But over the past five years, the anti-HIV/AIDS battle has been sidelined by
other national concerns. AIDS education, for instance, was taken away from
the prime minister's office and passed on to the health ministry, where it
was abandoned. The free condoms programme, for example, was discontinued.
While the government has been good in providing health care for AIDS
sufferers, recently including AIDS patients in its subsidised health
programme, its record on prevention has taken a hit in recent years.
Consequently, the number of new cases of HIV infection has jumped 30% over
the past two years, reaching 18,000 this year. Nearly 24% of the new cases
are teenagers.
“Young people ask me if AIDS is still around as if they're talking about the
Korean War,” said Mechai.
“If there is no information, people think there is no AIDS.”
India, which has 5.1 million HIV/AIDS patients – the world's second-largest
number – is another tragic example of the consequences of lack of awareness.
Indian leaders, including Health Minister A. Ramadoss, have only lately
displayed an interest in programmes to combat the scourge, key ingredients
in Thailand's once-successful anti-HIV/AIDS drive.
An upfront approach could translate into major results for India, reckoned
UNAIDS country coordinator Dr Denis Broun.
“The effort should be to convey the message effectively. Communication
should not be general messages like AIDS is a danger or AIDS kills... it
should lead to altering people's behaviour and make sure that condoms are
glamorous to use.”
The government's Targetted Intervention programme has reached only 20% of
people considered high-risk: sex workers, intravenous drug users, migrants
and gay men.
Another stumbling block is the apathetic attitude of provincial governments
tasked to implement the anti-HIV/ AIDS programmes.
“States such as Nagaland, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the virus
is spreading, are indifferent to the threat of the epidemic. This approach
could be disastrous,” a voluntary worker associated with the federal
government's AIDS control programme said. — dpa
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