Civil society organisations that advocate on behalf of Aids victims and related issues have urged the government to work harder to achieve the goal of wiping out cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome…
During a recent media interview, Midnight Poonkasetwattana, executive director of the Asia Pacific Coalition for Male Sex Health (APCOM), said there are currently about 520,000 people living with human…
The number of PLHIV in Thailand is declining as the country has been successful in preventing new cases of HIV infections, reducing them by 52% since 2015, especially among young people aged 15-24 years…
The government also provides two free blood tests a year for Thai people and offers free treatment for those infected with HIV.
But Mr Midnight said that even though the measures look promising, they may not help Thailand to eradicate HIV by 2030, especially as people living with the virus still face huge stigmatisation here, making…
“Many high-risk people decide not to use medical services or even get a blood test because of the stigmatisation they face from medical staff. They can’t tolerate being looked at the wrong way, being gossiped…
“Furthermore, people also question whether the system storing their blood test records is really confidential. They are afraid their records may be leaked,” he said. “Even though the sentiment toward PLHIV…
The government launched another campaign called “Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U)” to inform the public that, with effective treatments, PLHIV cannot pass on HIV to other people. However, this hasn’t…
Established in 2015, this serves as a model demonstrating how task-sharing can be realised through delivering HIV-related and health services by lay providers who are members of the key community, such…
This model has helped professionals working in health services connect with the hardest-to-reach and at-risk individuals and provide them with the necessary healthcare.
by Poramet Tangsathaporn
Source – The Bangkok Post
