|
With nearly 520,000 people
(ages 15-49) living with HIV and AIDS, Thailand
has the highest adult HIV prevalence in the South East
Asia region. [1] Successful efforts throughout the past two
decades have reduced the number of annual new HIV infections from 143,000
in 1991 to 10,853 in 2010. [2] WHO has supported Thailand’s response to HIV and
AIDS through evidence-based technical assistance and its convening power
aimed at revitalizing priorities among disparate health stakeholders.
|
|
|
With nearly
520,000 people (ages 15-49) living with HIV and AIDS, Thailand has the highest adult HIV
prevalence in the South East Asia region.
[3] This burden was driven largely by high rates of infection among
sub-populations including men who have sex with men, direct and indirect
sex workers, youth (ages 15-22), and people who inject drugs. Successful
prevention and treatment efforts throughout the past two decades have
reduced the number of annual new HIV infections from 143,000 in 1991 to
10,853 in 2010. [4] According to
the 2012 Global AIDS Response country progress report for Thailand, nearly 225,272 (64.61
per cent) of eligible adults and children living with HIV and AIDS are on
anti-retroviral therapy.
|
|
Thailand’s remarkable achievements in the early 1990s made
it a best-practice example throughout the world. However, future progress largely depends
on scaling up prevention, care, and treatment services for vulnerable
groups, namely men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), sex workers, people who
inject drugs, migrants, and youth.
Both incidence and prevalence of HIV in these sub-populations is
significantly higher than in the general population.
Thailand recently began an acceleration plan for reducing
HIV incidence among its most vulnerable populations. Equipped with support from the Global
Fund (Round 8) and technical assistance from various UN agencies, Thailand
remains determined to meet its targets outlined in its new National AIDS
Strategy for 2012 to 2016. There
remain several challenges to Thailand’s vision of zero
infections, zero AIDS-related deaths, and zero stigma and discrimination.
Among these challenges is the fragmented response to HIV among government
agencies, demographic and epidemiologic changes, and a rapidly-moving
decentralization process.
In the recent years, WHO has supported Thailand’s
response to HIV and AIDS through evidence-based technical assistance and
its convening power aimed at revitalizing priorities among disparate health
stakeholders.
In 2012, WHO will concentrate on supporting the national response in
scaling up of timely high quality care and treatment interventions,
revitalising the HIV testing and counselling program, and ensuring
equitable access to essential medicines via its support for the
International Trade and Health Programme (outlined in the Country
Cooperation Strategy 2012-2016). In
addition, WHO will continue its normative functions of knowledge
sharing/management with key stakeholders throughout the country.
|
|
