From: arpx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Re: AIDS in Thailand
Date: 26 Jul 92 18:10:38 EDT
Distribution: soc
Organization: Cornell University

inser
In article <BrzI3x.JIL@news.cso.uiuc.edu>,
ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Samart Srijumnong) writes: 
> darsie@eecs.ucdavis.edu (Richard Darsie) writes:
> 
>>There was an article about this in a recent Newsweek. Very sad and
>>very scary. It seems to be a common practice in rural villages for
>>young girls (12-14 years old) to be either sold or kidnapped into
>>prostitution. Western (and also Japanese) tourists come to Thailand
>>on "sex tours" (why doesn't the Thai gov't stop this) and so many
>                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>of the girls get AIDS from these people. I guess now a high percentage
>>of the Bangkok prostitutes are HIV-positive.
> 
>>--Richard
> 
> The last May bloody event has testified that, in fact, Thailand has not 
> had a government in the sense that the government has to take care of
> all aspects of the country's problems. So far, the tourist industry is
> the product of heavy lobbying on the part of tourism-concerned business.
> The government has yet to take care of its own being (e.g. struggles to 
> survive and meanwhile looks for a chance to take advantages on the expense
> of the whole country. The Parliament is full of corrupt politicians who
> are concerned only with the possibility to be appointed in the cabinet.
> The side-effect of tourism is mildly touched by the government. Khun Meechai,
> in a new article somewhere in the net, complains that the government has
> not paid enought attention the AIDS problems and cut down the budget needed
> to fight with the dreadly disease.
> 
> The prostitution in Thailand has existed to the point that the public begin
> to accept as part of life. The mass media hardly report about it. When Western
> media publicize it, the responsible authorities will take turn to justify
> its existence. At individual level,  the reaction vaies from anger (with
> the Western media) to some actions which would not yield much impact. 
> 
> I hope the see that the new Parliament will be more serious about this 
> problem. Prostitution or AIDS could be examined in the context of tourism
> and tourism also could be looked at in the context of AIDS and prostitution.
> It is the government who is in charge of balancing all good and bad things
> resulting from these two conflicting goals: money or well-being of its
> people!
I am glad to hear supports from male colleagues on this issue. Women movement
in Thailand needs support from both men and women. And, apparently, AIDS does
not discriminate and the growing number of HIV positive Thais is very threaten-
ing. I 'd like to include extracts from Bangkok Post Weekly Review, issued on
July 17. (Sorry for not reporting earlier). 
	"Meechai Viravqaidya said on July 8 he would resign if the government
failed to provide him an adequate budget to wage an effective campaign against
AIDS.
	He said the 1,300 million baht proposed for the AIDS awareness
campaign by various government agencies was slashed by 47 per cent [by
Suchinda's Government].
	Mechai: "there is no cure. There is no vaccine for AIDS. The only
protection we have is education."
	He also said that "Thailand has two years to stop the HIV virus from
infecting an estimated 2-4 million people by the year 2000."
	He asked the government to stop worrying about tourists not coming to
Thailand because the tourism trade exacts a heavy price on the country,
especially the dignity of Thai women.
	Various studies indicate that AIDS has entered the home, with an
increasing number of heterosexual men passing the virus to their wives and
babies.
	Statistics from Thailand's Communicable Disease Department state that
as of June 15 there were 576 full-blown cases reported of whom 273 have already
died. A further 612 ARCs were recorded and 200,000 to 400,000 people estimated
to be HIV positive.
	Meanwhile, Mr.Anand said on July 9 the AIDS prevention budget was
approved by his previous administration but it was slashed by the Suchinda
Government." [end of report]


 
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