Barbara Ellington, Acting Lifestyle Editor
A Thai policeman and a forestry official (right) look at tiger carcasses during a raid at what they described as a major wildlife holding facility in Thailand. Smugglers kept live tigers, bears, pangolins and snakes at the facility until they received orders to deliver either live or dead animals to their customers. Thailand is believed to be part of a wildlife smuggling route supplying the market in China, according to a Wildaid official. - REUTERS
BANGKOK, Thailand:
SENATOR MECHAI Vira-vaidya says that one way to tackle the global problem of the AIDS pandemic is to show the business community the disastrous effects of the economic impact of the disease.
He was speaking to The Gleaner and members of a Jamaican trade delegation to Thailand at Cabbages and Con-doms Restaurant in Bangkok on Wednesday. Senator Viravaidya is the founder and board chairman of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) and the Ambassador, UNAIDS (Joint Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS).
The meeting was arranged by Thalia Lyn, Honorary Consul General to the Kingdom of Thailand, in an effort to drum up support for her work with Jamaican charitable organisations that focus on children living with HIV/AIDS. Mrs. Lyn is leading a delegation of Jamaican businessmen and women to Thailand.
Senator Viravaidya said that about one million of Thailand's 63 million people was stricken with the deadly virus. He made the point that although the country had seen a 90 per cent decrease of new infections from 1991-2000 - the years of enlightenment - during the period 2001-2005 there had been a subsequent hibernation of the aggressive public education and prevention campaign of the earlier years, resulting in a 30 per cent increase in 2004 of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among youth, with a major decline of condom usage.
NO LONGER A MODEL
In the September 5 issue of The Nation newspaper, Senator Viravaidya is quoted as saying "It is time to wake up. AIDS has returned to the shores of Thailand. I'm going to let the world know that Thailand is no longer a model for AIDS prevention."
Part of the success of the previous anti-AIDS programme stemmed from the fact that all the key players in Thailand bought into the importance of the issue, the senator told the visiting delegation. Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun and all government ministers took the lead and began the campaign. Members of the police force, teachers, all the monks and other religious leaders, school children of all ages, the business community and anyone who had the power to influence others, were educated about the disease and given the tools to spread the word.
The senator, in stressing the importance of getting the word across to the nation, said "Sick staff can't work, dead citizens don't buy."
POSITIVE STEP
One positive step towards the alleviation of the problem in Thailand is that the cocktail of anti-AIDS drugs is now manufactured in Thailand and distributed free of cost to the poor who cannot afford it. But as the economy grows, more people will be able to afford the medication and Thailand is prepared to help other countries to do the same.
Mrs. Lyn extended an invitation to Senator Viravaidya to visit Jamaica in the very near future to throw his support and expertise behind local efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The delegation has met with tourism ministry officials, representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce as well as attended trade fairs. They will also tour a fish farm, some factories and an orchid farm. The group returns to Jamaica on Sunday.
