Faraza Farook reports on how Thailand is tackling the AIDS time-bomb

Battling the barriers of AIDS

When the magnitude of the AIDS threat in Asia was first realised, Thailand was considered fertile ground for an AIDS explosion. Today, a decentralized approach and the establishment of small community groups have helped to drastically reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the country. 

At thirteen, Waragon became a street kid with no one to take care of him after his parents split up. He sold drugs and was soon into the drug habit. He was slowly introduced to the sex trade and though twice admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre by the Police, did not give up his addiction. 

Now 18, and receiving counselling at the Volunteers Group for Children, he is off drugs and hopefully has escaped the HIV threat. But he mourns the loss of those childhood years. 

Waragon's is one of the many sad cases in Thailand. Broken families and economic constraints have pushed a large number of children and youth into the drug and sex trade. Some take to the trade as their families are involved in it while others stumble into it. 

But today Thailand has developed numerous projects to bring down the number of HIV/AIDS cases with some success. While the problem still persists, the incidence of HIV has depreciated appreciably with the female to male ratio dropping from 5:1 in 1992 to 2:1 now.

AIDS education is part of the Thai school curriculum and is incorporated into diverse projects to reach all the sectors of community. Yet despite high levels of awareness among the general public about HIV/AIDS and its prevention, behavioural change has been slow. 

Initially, scare tactics were used as a means of providing the information, but they caused widespread disbelief and then widespread discrimination of persons infected with HIV. The next step then had to focus on non-discrimination and living with people with HIV/AIDS. 

Persons Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who were willing to reveal their HIV status were asked to share their personal experiences at public forums and to join in the development of new curriculums and interventions. 

A special curriculum on communication skills training was developed to train them in public speaking, question and answer skills, poise and personality, problem solving and basic epidemiology. 

However, while public sympathy was gained to promote non-discrimination, behaviour change did not seem to occur. Thus, the personal experiences of the AIDS sufferers were combined with the information on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the individual, family, community and Thai society as a whole.

To bring about behavioural change in Thais, information on sexual and reproductive health was disseminated to make the issues at hand personal and specific to the individual. 

NGO activities shifted from prevention campaigns to providing knowledge on holistic care, strengthening the capacity of self-help groups and empowering these groups to access support from Sub-district Administrative Organisations. Moreover, community based programmes/activities for PLWHA were carried out and are still in progress. This has helped create awareness in the society. 

Skills for life

* New Life Friends Centre is a hospice that supports other PLWHA self-help groups. Formed by people with HIV/AIDS most between 25-29 years, one of their roles is to extend their activities to other regions becoming part of a larger znetwork.

* Friend-to-friend education is another project - a peer based curriculum for blue and white collar workers. This project enables people to build their knowledge attitudes, skills, norms and behaviour through educational activities .

* Since risk information alone cannot bring behaviour change, interventions that influence other factors which are equally responsible for behaviour change have been developed.

* These programmes on AIDS, focus on 'facts for life' and 'Life skills'.'Facts for life' are issues that concern everyday life, particularly one's goals and expectations in life and how diseases can hinder one from reaching these goals. 

* 'Life Skills' also known as life planning skills or coping skills is designed to build psychosocial competence and teaches decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, communication skills, interpersonal relationships, self awareness, empathy, coping with emotions and stresses. 

* The methods used to facilitate active involvement include working in small groups and pairs, brainstorming and role play, case studies, debates, visualising, touching, hearing, etc.

* The NGOs and hospice centres that provide care for AIDS sufferers also offer advice on medication and refer patients to appropriate medical institutions in addition to providing counselling services often by HIV positive persons themselves. 

Deloraine heads DBU

By Yvonne Gulamhusein

The D.B.U. on the corner of Colombo's Thunmulla junction is rich in old Dutch traditions. As you enter this colonial type building you are struck by the motto incorporated in the crest which reads 'Eendracht makt & macht' meaning "Unity is strength". 

A feature of the building is a step façade reaching up to the top on both sides and joined by a bell shaped arch. The D.B.U. building was completed in 1913 and has a beautiful teak staircase leading to the upper floor where the walls carry an array of portraits of staid old gentlemen, all past Presidents, peering down at you, eminent men who all "left their foot prints in the sands of time". These eminent men who contributed to the well-being of the country were civil servants, medical men and lawyers. Among them were Dr. R.L. Brohier, Deloraine's father who was president of the D.B.U. from 1953-1955, and Aubrey Martensz who was the first Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia.

Deloraine refused to take up the D.B.U. presidency three years ago, but this year when she was urged to do so again, she took it on as a challenge for "family tradition, sentiment and the sake of my community", she said. Many years ago, in 1901, her grandfather and grandmother were amongst a small group of Burghers, who met at the Lindsay School hall, Bambalapitiya, to discuss the formation of a Union of Burghers.

Deloraine recalled that she had been associated with the D.B.U. from childhood. She has many happy memories of evenings like St. Nickolaas Day, a festival celebrated by the Dutch on December 5 enjoying pony rides, merry-go-rounds and exciting roller coaster rides. The roller coaster was a tea factory chest and the kids would roll down the rails in the boxes screaming and laughing. Her friends at the time were Maeve Meier (later Outschoorn), Christine Van Dort, and her cousin Cynthia Brohier. Her grandmother would invariably sew her a new dress for the occasion. "Granny was a wonderful seamstress for her family, her fingers always busy with knitting, crochet and tatting," Deloraine recalled.

Deloraine's first coming out dance party was at the DBU and she wore her first long dress of white tulle scattered all over with white mother-of-pearl sequins in pastel shades.

Around the long DBU hall sat 'mamas' and 'aunties' on straight backed chairs to watch over their darlings and matchmake. That was an era of dances when the girls were given printed cards with the order of the dances - fox-trot waltz, old waltz and tango marked on it and the boys would book a dance marking their names on the cards.

Following her university career, however, Deloraine took on a very heavy programme of work in broadcasting and later in the United Nations and was kept busy visiting missions and travelling in the region. She had little time to be involved in the D.B.U. activities.

In her retirement, even now, she finds herself occupied with her writing and with serving on non-governmental organisations and various committees. From 1994 she has been a board member of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board appointed by the Minister of Tourism. She is also presently co-vice President of the Sri Lanka Netherlands Association.

When Deloraine took office as the 40th President she followed tradition. In an inspiring presidential address, - she appealed to the members of this minority but distinguished community to remember the motto of the Dutch Burgher Union: "Unity is strength". "In a changing scene in the world around us, we should keep our traditions and heritage and remember our long history," she said.

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