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RIGHTS-THAILAND: Village a Haven for People Living with HIV/AIDS
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
PA DAENG, Thailand, Nov 18 (IPS) - This village nestled along the banks of
the Sai River in northern Thailand has become the new home for 15 Burmese
who fled here to avoid the stigma of being HIV-positive.
Before them, others from Burma afflicted with HIV have also slipped
across the porous Thai-Burmese border to be cared for and die with dignity
in this village of rice farmers, some 70 kilometres north of the northern
city of Chiang Rai.
What attracts the Burmese to Pa Daeng is also what draws a steady stream
of Thai and non-Thai visitors all year round: the tender manner in which
this community of 208 families cares for its villagers stricken with HIV/AIDS.
''The community activity is unique. They are not hostile to people with
HIV/AIDS. People come from all over because these efforts have become a
model to follow,'' says Alberto de la Paz of the Population and Community
Development Association (PDA), a Thai non-governmental organisation
involved in the battle against HIV/AIDS.
Among the foreigners who have come here to learn about its humane
approach to HIV/AIDS are those from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the
Philippines.
Thai visitors cut across the social spectrum, ranging from academics and
university students to villagers and community leaders in this country
where close to one million people out of a total population of 62 million
have HIV, a good number of them in northern Thailand.
For Sukhum Jaiphiphak, the village headman, the community's becoming a
haven for people living with HIV/AIDS has also meant a new life. He has
been spending less time tending to his rice fields and more hours on the
road as an advocate.
''I never imagined my life would take this turn,'' says 51-year-old
Sukhum. ''I have asked my son to take care of the fields while I work as an
advocate. Almost every week or every other week I am away, talking to other
communities, village leaders about our efforts.''
His work has also taken him to Bangkok, the Thai capital, and Chiang
Mai, the country's second largest city.
The message he takes on the road is twofold: the virtues of a community
that opens its heart to those living with HIV/AIDS, and what helped shape
that attitude - the work of the Fung Sai Group that was formed five years
ago by HIV-positive people battling stigma.
''The villagers who were infected decided to form a peer support group,
and soon they began to gain acceptance by the rest of the community,''
Sukhum explains.
Those with HIV/AIDS took the lead in fashioning the kind of medical care
they needed, the sort of family help they wanted, the community assistance
they expected, and even the best way they could earn a living.
Consequently, says Sukhum, villagers who are diagnosed with HIV ''do not
have to hide this illness from the community or lock themselves in their
houses,'' as they did 10 years ago.
''We have removed the stain of shame,'' he asserts. ''Now children with
HIV can attend the village school unlike before. They are not sent away.''
A village bank here also gives loans to those with HIV, ensuring that
they have access to means of productive livelihood. They can secure loans
to purchase cattle or to enter into other economic activity. Children with
HIV are guaranteed scholarships to cover school expenses.
The bank also assures assistance to cover some health bills and to pay
for death-related expenses.
Pa Daeng's achievements acquire added significance because the Chiang
Rai region is currently the fourth highest region with new HIV cases in
Thailand, according to the ministry of public health. Since January this
year, there have been 106 cases there detected per 100,000 people.
''Almost every family in this village has been directly or indirectly
affected by HIV,'' says PDA's De la Paz.
Doctors at the country's Communicable Disease Control Department
estimate there are over 50,000 new HIV cases diagnosed every year, although
the number of new has reportedly been decreasing. Nearly 300,000 people
have died from the pandemic since the eighties.
The Fung Sai Group has 58 members. These villagers with HIV/AIDS include
children and adults, with the largest age group being those between 20 to
40 years. These include three new villagers diagnosed with HIV this year
and 12 from last year.
The group has also mounted an effective drive in the village to curb the
spread of HIV by asking men to reduce high-risk behaviour such as visiting
sex workers, and convincing women to stay away from the sex trade as a
source of income.
''There is high condom use and men are conscious about the dangers of
visiting brothels,'' Sukhum explains. ''All young women have found work in
the village. There is no need to be drawn to the sex trade in Chiang Rai or
Bangkok.''
''The high rate of HIV cases in the north have been due to the sex
trade,'' says Jon Ungpakorn, a Thai senator and secretary of the AIDS
Access Foundation, an NGO.
Yet at the same time, he adds, communities in this part of Thailand have
been at the vanguard of efforts to create understanding about HIV/AIDS.
''Their work has helped change attitudes about people living with HIV
unlike in the rest of the country, where there is still a lot of stigma
attached to AIDS.''
Adds Sukhum, the village headman: ''Those with HIV can today lead normal
lives in our village. We are committed to keeping it that way.''
(END/2002)
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