WORLD AIDS DAY

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Teenagers struggle to tell partners about having HIV
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
02-12-2010

Joy is just 14 and at an age when many young girls think about falling in love. But she has lived knowing she has HIV for more than half her life.

"I am worried about whether a guy will accept me as I am," Joy admitted yesterday. Still, she was determined to tell her boyfriend - when she finds one - about her having the disease.

"It's okay if he rejects me," she said. "I will have to understand that".

The teenager contracted the disease at birth from her mother, who has already passed away.

Despite the deadly infection, Joy has the courage to live on because her father has always been there for her. "He has offered constant moral support. Thanks to him, my health condition is fine," she said.

Joy was first told she had the disease when she was 7, when she developed illnesses related to HIV and the doctor decided it was time to inform her.

"I was so nervous and afraid," Joy recounted, "The doctor told me I had to accept the truth about my life."

With the support of her loving father, Joy has learnt to be stronger and strictly take her anti-retroviral drugs - going to the hospital to see a doctor and get medication every two months.

She has also learnt that some 1,300 other teenagers around her age face the same fate.

Among them is Kay, who also started taking medication at the age of 7.

"Now, I can live a normal and healthy life," the 14-year-old said. Like Joy, Kay has lived in Chiang Rai and in a farming family.

Kay said when the doctor told her she was infected with HIV it was the hardest time of her life.

"I was very afraid to tell the truth to my friends," she said. But she did, and although the parents of some of her friends showed disgust, all her friends stood by her.
"It is good for me to have friends like them," she said.

Kay is never angry when someone asks her whether she is infected with HIV or not. When the question comes up, she takes the opportunity to explain the infection and about the disease.

"Although not everyone understands me, I am not discouraged. All I have to do is accept my life and stand tall to get by," she said.

Not all HIV-positive teenagers are willing to let others know about their infection, though. A teenage girl, who has had HIV for years, declined to give an interview out of fear details about her personal life may slip out and her boyfriend may learn she has the disease.

Bo, a hospital staffer who asked not to be named, said telling the truth to lovers was a major problem for teenagers living with HIV as most were afraid their love interest would not accept them.

"We will not tell them what they should do. We just let them think about the consequences after they tell the truth to their lovers that they are living with HIV. They also have to think how to prevent their lovers from getting infected," she said.

Apart from such problems, Bo said HIV-positive teenagers often found their condition worsens if they forget to strictly take anti-retroviral drugs.

Teenagers living with HIV turn to doctors for help and counselling occasionally. In addition to medical workers, they have also turned to those of their same age facing the same predicament.

The "Rim mekong River" group has many HIV-positive teenagers who often gather to discuss their problems and explore possible solutions.

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Thousands of civil servants carry Aids virus
By The Nation
02-12-2010

At least 20,000 civil servants including health officials across the country are living with HIV/Aids, according to the Public Health Ministry.

Dr Somyot Kittimunkong, director of the Aids division at the Disease Control Department, said yesterday that some 20,000 bureaucrats each year seek reimbursement for the cost of antiretroviral medicine at the healthcare unit.

They include health officials, as they were infected via needles used by their families, he said. The real figure would be up to 60,000 civil servants with HIV, he said.

Thailand has about 520,000 people living with HIV, and this year has seen 10,853 new infections among adults and children.

Gay men remain the highest risk group, followed by spouses of HIV carriers. To prevent the spread of the disease, people who have practised unsafe sex during the past 10 years should voluntary take a HIV blood test, he said.

The National Health Security Office offers HIV blood tests for free. About 250,000 people have used the service, and 7 per cent of them were found with HIV.

Each day, up to 35 people come down with HIV on average and Aids now accounts for onethird of deaths among youths.

"Our campaign will seek to reduce the number of new infections," said Prof Chuanchom Sakondhavat, director of Khon Kaen University's Aids Institute.

She was speaking at an event held to mark World Aids Day, which falls on December 1 every year.

About 14,000 people in the country caught HIV in 2006, so her institute drew up a fouryear strategy to try to cut new cases to just 7,000 a year by next year.

Last year the number of newly infected people soared past 10,000.

"Most new infections are detected among people aged between 19 and 29," the doctor said. "Youths now have sex at a younger age and many of them often change sexual partners."

It was high time that educational institutions taught youngsters about sex and selfprotection against the deadly disease.

When Aids causes untimely deaths among young people, the economy also suffers.

The spread of Aids among alien workers, who have limited access to information and treatment, was another concern, she added.