The social context of the emergence of HIV in Thailand
Ford, N.
Warasan Prachakon Lae Sangkhom 2(2): 223-237
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0857-717X PMID: 12283537 Document Number: 373899
This paper reviews the developing pattern of HIV infection in Thailand with an introduction on basic principles of HIV transmission; a description of the emergence of HIV as a public health threat; a review of the social characteristics of HIV carriers in the context of the sexual culture in Thailand; and ends with a discussion of the dilemmas a developing country faces in dealing with HIV. Thailand is an example of a society where few people have many sex partners, a situation with a faster transmission of HIV than a case where most people have few partners. While Asia has lagged behind other regions in the spread of AIDS, in Thailand HIV has spread rapidly since 1988. Thailand has an illegal but tolerated commercial sex industry, with outlets very diverse in terms of STD control. This industry caters to tourists from other Asian countries, and is maintained by a strong male dominant culture, incomes averaging 25 times higher than other occupations pay, depression in outlying areas encouraging remittance of money back to families, and even status for sex workers in the marriage market. There is an entrenched subculture of intravenous drug injectors who also make up a nucleus of HIV carriers with high prevalence, 43% as of 1988. Some strategies open to the government to control spread of HIV include legalization and control of the sex industry, needle/syringe exchange and health care for drug injectors, social welfare for opium growers in the hills, and political solutions for the conflicts affecting drug traffic in Burma.