Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - September 6, 2006
More than 100 new HIV cases are expected before the end of 2006, compared with 53 in 2001, out of a population of 5.2 million, according to a report published by the Finnish ministry of health.
"In a growing number of cases, people contract the disease abroad, particularly in Thailand," a favourite holiday destination of Finnish holidaymakers, health ministry adviser Merja Saarinen said.
"What is especially worrying is the number of new cases transmitted sexually," Saarinen said.
Around three out of four of the carriers are male, a figure that has remained unchanged since the beginning of the 1980s, while the average age of infected men has risen from 33 to 40 since 2001.
A drop in the number of cases contracted through sexual contact in those below 25 was an "encouraging" trend, according to Saarinen.
Since Aids emerged in the 1980s, 2,007 Finns have contracted the disease.
According to the UNAIDS's 2006 Report on the global Aids epidemic, an estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Approximately 4.1 million people became newly infected with HIV.
The Thai government has been combatting against the disease for over a decade, but the number of people living with HIV/Aids keep on rising.
There are about 800,000 HIV-infected people in Thailand, with more than 17,000 new HIV/Aids infections last year.
It plans to cut the number of new infections to 7,500 in 2008 and to less than 6,000 in 2010.
The rate of infection is highest in northern provinces, which are also popular tourist destinations.
The Department of Disease Control recently expressed concern over the effectiveness of the country's HIV/Aids prevention campaign due to budget constraints.
This year's Aids prevention budget has been slashed from last year's allocation of about 300-400 million baht to just 180 million baht, according to the department.
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