Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 15, 2004
Heamakarn Sricharatchanya
"By visiting the infected children at Baan Gerda, an HIV hospice in Lop Buri, I can tell they are so in need of the human touch and love," said YouthAIDS Global Ambassador Ms Judd at a fundraising event at BMW's head office in the All Seasons Place complex. "That's why we kissed and embraced them. And we felt so wonderful for doing that."
She recalled the moment she hugged an infected girl who called her "a big sister". The girl was shaking with her embrace because she had been left alone and she had not had anyone to care for her for weeks, she said.
"You don't need to avoid them as you can't get infected by just sitting next to them or kissing them," said Ms Lee, recently named YouthAIDS Ambassador for Asia.
To create a better understanding of the deadly disease and its prevention, Ms Judd said education is the only tool.
To prevent the disease, a programme encouraging high-risk groups to use condoms is needed, Ms Judd said. It must make condoms more accessible and affordable for youths and high-risk groups, she said.
The founder of YouthAIDS, Kate Roberts, said another approach to reduce the infection rate is abstinence.
"Abstinence is the only way you can prevent the infection 100 percent," she said, adding that around 8,000 people die every day from Aids.
As her mission of being a youth ambassador will soon end, Ms Judd said that she wanted to give Thais the responsibility of reducing the infection rate in the country.
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