Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 14, 2005
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
Wannakanok Pohedaedao, representing a network of youths against HIV/Aids, said in her village in Yala's Krongpinang district there were about 200 young people who are sexually active but lacked the appropriate knowledge about safe sex.
"Muslim youngsters like me are curious to learn more about sex but we have to suppress it mainly due to religious beliefs about abstinence and birth control," she said during the opening of the three-day national conference on Aids. "However, lack of appropriate knowledge about protected sex could put us at high risk of virus infection."
The 25-year-old campaigner for HIV/Aids prevention said her village and nearby Muslim communities still disapproved of condom use and some male and female teenagers were embarrassed to buy condoms at convenience stores and would instead ask her to seek free condoms and birth-control pills for them.
She asked health authorities to build up a network for HIV/Aids education and help both Muslim adults and teenagers to be open-minded about the issue.
Without a change in attitude towards condom use and safe sex, HIV/Aids could cause social problems in the southern communities in the long run, Ms Wannakanok said.
"The government should not just only talk but it has to prove that it would like to solve the problem of HIV/Aids infection among young people by listening to our calls and working with us," she said.
Up to 80,000 young people in Thailand have been infected with HIV/Aids with at least 600 new cases found each year, prompting health officials to try to control the virus spreading among major groups with high-risk behaviour.
Public Health Minister Suchai Charoenratanakul yesterday said that he was particularly concerned that teenagers' change of attitude towards having sexual relationships at an early age had recently caused a drastic increase in the level of HIV/Aids infection among this specific group.
According to the latest survey by the Bureau of Aids and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, many students aged below the age of 17 have experienced sexual relationships, usually one night stands, with their partners despite lacking appropriate knowledge and understanding of safe sex.
In Thailand, half a million people are living with HIV/Aids. An estimated 20,000 people are infected with the virus each year.
The Public Health Ministry aims to reduce the number of new infections to 18,000 this year.
Katherine Bond, associate director of the Rockefeller Foundation, said that the national budget on Aids has so far been spent on medical treatment rather than on educating young people.
The Disease Control Department spent almost one billion baht on medical care alone while only 50 million baht was used for prevention programmes.
She said the government as well as educational institutions should develop more programmes and activities to create close relationship between teenagers and parents, peers and teachers at home and at school because this would be an effective way to combat HIV/Aids.
"If adults want to work well with teenagers on HIV/Aids prevention, they have to let go of the power, learn to listen and ask them questions. This is so that they can truly participate and help someone with one of the most important social problems at the present," Ms Bond said.
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