The Effectiveness of the Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention Policies in Thailand

Medical documents from the 1800s show a close association of sexually transmitted diseases and prostitution. Between 1910 and 1925, the rates were approximated at 75-80 % of male adults in Bangkok (Van Griensven et al.). People moving across China and Laos borders were believed to add to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the 1900s and has remained so to date. Asia and the Pacific come second after Sub-Saharan Africa with the number of people living with HIV.

Out of all Asia and the Pacific countries, Thailand has the highest prevalence of HIV positive people; it accounts for 9% of the population living with HIV in the region(Van Griensven et al.). The epidemic is on a decreasing trend, but the prevalence in the affected groups remains high. However, Thailand is the first nation to successfully eradicate mother-child transference, with a transmission percentage of less than 2. Thailand has put policies in place to help achieve its 2030 vision, which is to end HIV(Patcharanarumol et al.). Their policies target the youth and other key affected groups to ensure the realization of the vision. The population of Thailand is over 70 million, and as of 2018, 480000 people had HIV, and 18000 died of the same(Van Griensven et al.).

Main actors in the fight against HIV in Thailand and their functions in policymaking

Before 1988, activities associated with AIDs were sponsored by global and joint supporters(Van Griensven et al.). Global health organizations are currently the main actors in the fight against HIV at the moment. They, however work through the Thailand ministry of health and, a few other intergovernmental organizations take part in the fight. The Ministry of Public Health, Department of Disease Control, worked with the Thai Medical Society for the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and the reliable support from WHO Thailand to launch the National Tactic on sexually transmitted diseases Prevention and Control, 2017 – 2021(Decker et al.).

For instance, In 1908, Thailand endorsed a decree which necessitated all lady sex workers to undertake a regular medical checkup to become diagnosed(Patcharanarumol et al.). It erected brothels too. Legislators required to stop Sexually Transmitted Diseases spread to men. From 1930, a control unit for the prevention of venereal diseases was set up at Bank Rak Hospital(Decker et al.). The 1908 act was still there in 1930-1949 in spite of efforts to prohibit sex work. The United Nations, in 1952, delivered Thailand help for STD training for scholars. All through 1950-1965, entrepreneurs and regime officials benefitted from prostitution(Van Griensven et al.).

The global health systems include Non-governmental organizations that play vital roles in policy determination. Due to their capability to more effortlessly offer amenities to the most vulnerable groups, they take up severe roles in any effective AIDS deterrence program. Government officials are not fast enough to reach the affected, given the means of transmission of the infection. Non-governmental organizations are allowed to offer innovative ways. Additionally, Non-governmental organizations can select their specific regions of association as determined by their practicability. Non-governmental organizations are effective in strategy activism, in providing preparation for a variety of groups, in giving therapy and other help to those with HIV. Non-governmental organizations, however, face challenges such as lack of support and funding from the government. Some of the global health systems that have helped in Thailand include World Health Organisation and the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS(UNAIDs)(Van Griensven et al.).

The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is a global organization that is operating targeting the to end new HIV infections, guaranteeing that that treatment is accessible to everybody living with the infection, upholding human rights, and giving information for policymaking. The institute leads and motivates people to realize its common dream of zero first-hand HIV contaminations and deaths related to AIDS.

The Thailand national strategy on Sexually transmitted diseases prevention and control 2017 to 2021 vision is to put an end to sexually transmitted diseases in 13 years, I.e., by 2030(Van Griensven et al.). The overall objectives were: To avoid and regulate Sexually transmitted infections by reinforcing capability and intensifying coverage of Sexually transmitted infections deterrence and management amenities that are active and good for the patient by employing prevailing recognized structures, and improving skills and cooperating with appropriate partners and investors, thus guaranteeing swift and justifiable outcomes. The National sexually transmitted diseases strategy for 2017 to 2021 has five tactics, and every tactic has an objective(Patcharanarumol et al.). These policies are: Strategy one is to Accelerate deterrence and cure of Sexually Transmitted Infections in particular target people to guarantee efficacy and enough handling through new advances. Strategy Two was to Reinforce the volume of public health workers and helpers to implement an all-rounded treatment and deterrence amenities rendering to the values(Van Griensven et al.).

Strategy three is to Grow exposure and warrant endurance in applying communication advances to sustain prevention and cure and stimulate the use of condoms among different target sets of youth populace. Strategy four is to Expand data schemes and information technology to support decision creation, strategy making, organization, and assessment, guaranteeing connections at all stages. Policy five is to Increase, encourage, identify and acclaim inventions, information, pilot prototypes, and success from the enactment of the regional strategy.

All the tactics have five objectives which are: the objective for strategy one is to ensure that complete and sustainable prevention and cure services reach the target populations in adequate amounts. Purpose of Strategy two is to offer Inclusive and patient-friendly management and prophylaxis amenities by public health people and helpers conferring to the ideals. The objective of Strategy three is to ensure the youth are knowledgeable and willing to decrease risk habits to avert contamination and pursue treatment. Purpose of Strategy four is to avail national information data to help in making decisions, strategy creation, scheduling, and appraisal. The goal of Strategy 5 is to realize, identify and applause Inventions, new data, trial models, and achievements and ensure it is transmitted and dispersed for topping up.

Thailand banned prostitution in 1960. United States military, however, looked for sex workers in the 1960s and 1970s and led to an uprise of illegal prostitution(Decker et al.). At the same time, Thailand was endorsing itself as a tourism target. One prominent assistant chief, banker, and entrepreneur requested regional councils to encourage the sex leisure industry. Sex, however, spread so fast in the 1980s, Sexually Transmitted Diseases grew widely in Thailand(Decker et al.). The earliest AIDS instance was in 1984(Van Griensven et al.). Eight more AIDS cases and 112 were positively diagnosed, majority of them were gay males, and half of them were foreigners(Van Griensven et al.). A few months later, IV drug users were infected with HIV. In a year, the rate of HIV infections increased in the Chiang Rai area up to 37%(Decker et al.).

Thailand took a three-phase strategy in the management of HIV/AIDs: preliminary fight against the endemic, conception of integrated coalitions, and mitigation of the shortcomings of HIV/AIDS. The initial battle against the rampant was implemented between 1984 and 1990(Van Griensven et al.). When Thailand observed a rise in the incidence of the infection in the 1980s, the regime observed a common public health tactic that stressed instance reporting of AIDS over the health system(Van Griensven et al.). Nevertheless, the arrangement efforts to detect the fast increase in HIV infection were futile due to the asymptomatic nature of HIV before it turns to AIDs. Very little information was available on the reason for the spread of the disease in the population. The public ha the notion that AIDs only affected gay men and male prostitutes; therefore, the government put all their preventive measures in these groups.

Intergovernmental organizations also play a role in the fight against sexually transmitted infections. For instance, Royal Thai government focused on funding the program and gradually embraced policies that addressed the HIV and AIDs issue; noticeable activists gave their integrity and stature to the anti-AIDS movement(Patcharanarumol et al.). Plans came up that supported health education, monitoring, counseling, and social support such as The Medium -Term Platform for the Prevention and Control of AIDS. The policy concentrated on distinct threats and restraint by offering data, creating cognizance, and from time to time, providing messages that instill fear. In 1990, there was a countrywide study of HIV developmental tendencies among the critical sets of the population that were funded by world health organization.it was carried out by Thai Red Cross in association with a Thai university(Van Griensven et al.).

The conception of integrated coalitions was implemented between 1991 and 1997. In 1990, The prime minister announced the chairman of the National AIDs Prevention and Control Committee, and an AIDS policy was endorsed(Van Griensven et al.). The government developed increased concern on the HIV/AIDs endemic. Therefore, they started public education campaigns on the virus and disease to help all the Thais through the media. These communications stressed deterrence over the change in behavior and the use of protection.

All departments offered training for their respective populations. The Department of Education steered peer training courses among school children and had a yearly nationwide race for students to write articles on HIV/AIDS, which significantly outstretched their knowledge of alertness(Puthanakit et al.). Government struggles were accompanied by reserved ingenuities, like the Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS, that encouraged HIV/AIDS enlightenment and deterrence in the workstation. A platform was started to deter young ladies from venturing into commercial sex work by giving them scholarships to further their education. (Puthanakit et al.)

Framing of the policies formed

The HIV/AIDS issue is framed under Human rights, as Human Rights for people living with HIV/AIDS: during the early years in the 1990s, the law that obligated people with HIV/AIDS to report their names and addresses and be detained and set apart from their families was revoked; and the standard of deliberate, unnamed, private therapy and analysis for HIV/AIDS was established(Patcharanarumol et al.). The dominant plan in Thailand stressed on sanctioning individuals who have HIV and AIDS. In contrary to the previous stage of the retort, individuals with HIV and AIDS were acknowledged as an indispensable means for deterrence and maintenance instead of a possible pool of the endemic(Van Griensven et al.).

National AIDS Plan: between the years 1992 and 1996, a comprehensive action strategy was framed under the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) to certify collaboration amongst the private sector,14 government departments, and Non-governmental organizations(Park et al.). Government economic pledges to fighting HIV/AIDS increased abruptly between 1989 and1996, and nineteen global establishments and overseas governments gave extra funding(Van Griensven et al.).

The strategy assisted as a push for numerous Thai organizations and sectors to contribute to the effort — more significant contribution caused in amplified AIDS consciousness amongst the public(Patcharanarumol et al.). Throughout the years 1991 to 1997, the key actors were the non-governmental organizations and the ministry of public health(Van Griensven et al.). Other departments could afford to sponsor, but they didn’t have the necessary expertise needed to run the programs. The ministry of public health was later mandated to run all the applications. On-governmental organizations contributed officially in the strategy creating a procedure and petitioned intensely for extensive distribution of cooperative data, the security of human rights, and sympathetic maintenance for people with AIDS.

The National Economic and Social Development department scheduled the national AIDS policy, and a five year AIDS regulatory program, assigning assets to departments and Non-Governmental Organizations(Patcharanarumol et al.). The strategy stressed the enlistment of people and societies to take part in the management of HIV contagion, to tend for the affected, and to lessen bias against and humiliation of individuals living with the virus. This approach of establishing coalitions and exploit collaborations remains to date.

Government resources were assigned for several deeds to inspire the formation of associations among several areas: Interactive and Communal Involvements. Resources were absorbed to distribute knowledge and fund schooling for the ordinary people, and objective sets of individuals. The platform intended to thwart off HIV contagion amid several groups by endorsing suitable ethics and inspiration to warrant ethical conduct(Van Griensven et al.). It maintained the establishment of joint thoughtfulness amongst society members to admit the truth that AIDS impends on everybody in the community. It needed encouragement for societies to get submissive to HIV/AIDS and accept the people living with the disease.

Regimes and guidelines were designed to help in the upkeep of people living with HIV and AIDS to help enhance their treatment. The government even funded clinical trials in hospitals to assist in the clinical practices, and the institutions were well developed to safeguard the personnel and the customers — the establishment of the Therapy Department(Park et al.). Private capital was set aside for people with HIV and AIDS. The teaching of psychotherapists and revision training was reinforced to prolong amenity and to uphold its eminence. Checking for HIV was availed under the event of pre-counseling and post-therapy, and with the condition of expert consensus.

The organization of the state board was stretched over every area and region. Determinations to activate and endow a large group of shareholders to synchronize AIDS events in each segment and region were sustained. Since government generals could not grasp specific inhabitants at the boundaries, Non-Governmental Organizations got a growing amount of reserves between the years 1992 to 1996 to offer the necessary help to individuals who were problematic to get to(Patcharanarumol et al.).

AIDS Research and Evaluation was a policy whose financial plan was focused on sponsoring investigation that resulted in strategy creation and the applied solicitation of study outcomes, and to evaluate AIDS deterrence and regulation struggles in Thailand. It offered scholarships over a system of scholars from institutions of higher education and Non-Governmental Organizations, to intensify information on AIDS(Park et al.).

Conclusion

HIV occurrence is decreasing in Thailand, owing to fruitful HIV deterrence platforms. Studies have indicated that around ten million people have avoided infection of Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV due to the early interpolation programs between 1997 and 2016. AIDS deaths have also decreased tremendously(Van Griensven et al.). Thailand has identified the major causes of HIV. Ninety percent of the new cases are due to unprotected sex, and the second cause is the use of intravenously delivered drugs. Augmented entree to prevention amenities has caused a decrease in new contaminations among specific groups in the community.

For instance, there was a decrease in the number of new infections through unsafe drug injection but an increase in modern diseases as a result of male gay sex between 1995 and 2015(Van Griensven et al.). The government hasn’t given up on the efforts to eradicate HIV and believes that by 2010, they will be in an HIV free country.