Children and AIDS in Thailand: One Country’s Response

28/08 96 WED 10:16 FAX [phone]. UNAIDS,j01
More than 5;000 children are born each year with HIV. About half will develop AIDS rapidlj and
die within two years; the others will not develop full-blown AIDS for years. About 63,000 chi dren
under the age of 15 will be infected with HIV and 47,000 will die of AIDS by the year 2000 New
annual pediatric AIDS cases will rise from 3,100 in 1993 to 7,000 in2000.
As parents die, the number of AIDS orphans will increase. Projections indicate that, by the year
2000, more than 100,000 under-15s will have lost their mothers to the disease, about a thi'd of
them under the age of five.
Action take'n and further required
1. Preventing parental infections through prevention efforts for women and men
The national AIDS programme has been successful in reducing the risk of infection in adlults
through interventions such as public education campaigns aimed at changing sexual risk
behaviour; condom promotion; and improvement of STD treatment services. The programme has
had particular success in reducing infection rates among men. The number of men visiting sex
workers has halved over four years, and due to the 100% condom use campaign, condoms are
widely used in commercial sex work and STD rates have dropped dramatically.
Single women have not been given a high priority in HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, because of
the presumption that there is little sexual activity in this group. However, in fact this is not alw ays
the case: surveys among single female factory workers in Bangkok have found that perhaps 2 0%
have had at least one sexual experience. Although there is evidence that married women are
becoming infected from their husbands, HIV prevention strategies among married women have
not been systematically implemented on a large scale.
Recent developments have addressed these concerns. A programme initiated by TRC, ono of
the largest NGOs in Thailand, funded by UNICEF and the Australian government, has reacied
young women and young men in factories in more than 30 provinces. Moreover, a natic'nal
communication plan on HIV/AIDS targeted at reducing risk for women has been initiated a. a
collaborative effort among non-government agencies, private business and the government.
2. Prevention of marital HIV transmission
The vast majority of HIV infections among adults and children are potentially preventable if
couple know the HIV status of each other and are able to jointly mke informed decisions ab %ut
condom uSe and having children. Thailand has started a large scale programme, including b >th
services and an information campaign, to promote voluntary premarital HIV counselling.nd
testing and voluntary HIV testing and counselling in integrated reproductive health services.
3. Preventing mother to child transmission
Couples in Thailand living with HIV have a few options for reducing mother-child transmission.

* They may decide to use contraception and not to have any more children. Thailand is n )w
expanding its programmes for voluntary HIV testing, and for contraceptive services a nd
counselling for HIV-positive women and their husbands.
* The government and NGOs have initiated a programme to buy the drug AZT to treat pregn; nt
mothers and their new-borns. Because AZT has been shown to reduce mother-ct ild
transmission of HIV, the new programme is designed to address problems with the cc st
supply and distribution Of the drug as it currently too expensive for many families. In t uis