Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - Friday, July 9, 2004
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
"Past success must not turn into complacency and inaction in the future," Robert England, the UNDP resident representative, told a press conference.
New Aids infections had dropped sharply from 143,000 in 1991 to 19,000 this year. Yet it remained the most important cause of death in the country. Over 53,000 people were estimated to have died of the disease last year, more than twice the number of deaths from traffic accidents.
"Aids never stops spreading. But why does the government stop spending budget on disease prevention and educational programmes for people at risk?" said Werasit Sittitrai, the UNDP official in charge of programme development, coordination and UN system relations. The budget for HIV/Aids prevention has steadily decreased from 1.98 billion baht in 1997 to 1.03 billion baht last year. Although the budget for this fiscal year was an improvement at 1.63 billion baht, less than 10% of this was for prevention measures.
Government spending on Aids no longer matched the threat the epidemic posed to Thailand, Mr Werasit noted.
He said pubic information and education campaigns to raise awareness and concern about HIV/Aids has ebbed although the epidemic continued to spread among diverse population groups, making it more difficult to detect and prevent new infections.
In its report on "Thailand's Response to HIV/Aids: Progress and Challenges" released yesterday, the UN agency said the country was facing a new phase of the epidemic, and a large number of people still required treatment, care and support but current prevention efforts did not measure up to the new realities of a shifting epidemic.
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