Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - April 24, 2001
Dr Somsoong Rakpao, head of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, said although the ratio of Thailand's new HIV/Aids patients was reportedly declining every year, the situation was still critical, and could even worsen.
"Distributing condoms to target groups such as soldiers, police and students, can probably help prevent them from becoming HIV patients," Dr Somsoong said.
The committee's first meeting of this year, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intraravittayanan, was held yesterday at Government House. It discussed launching new measures to protect people from infection, expanding medical services to cover all HIV/Aids patients, and drafting the 2002-2006 plan to tackle HIV/Aids problems.
Dr Somsoong said this year's protective measures to solve HIV/Aids problems would focus on getting people at all levels-from family to community-to participate more in the government's anti-Aids programme.
According to the department's statistics, from 1984 to the present, 984,000 people have been infected with HIV/Aids. Of this number, about 700,000 were still alive, and the majority of patients were 20-39 years of age.
In the North, Payao was reported to have the highest number of HIV/Aids patients, and Rayong in the Central Region. In the Northeast and South, HIV/Aids patients were found most in Loei and Phuket, respectively.
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