There is one medical malady that has plagued me my whole life and it’s name is tonsillitis, not just any old tonsillitis but normally acute tonsillitis.  Even since I was kid it has been in the background just waiting to jump me at any conceivable moment. The day the space shuttle blew up in 1985 I was hospitalized with the flu, pnemonia, strep throat and it was all brought on by acute tonsillitis, not fun. I can actually mark the periods of my life by this dam curse.

It would be easy to think ” he should have had them removed as a child”, that would have been nice but the symptoms have to be completely gone before any operation can be considered and money was tight when I was a kid. Besides most times it was a bad swollen and infected throat that would last for a week after some antibiotics. Being older it would be easy to get the operation now but the operation is much more dangerous for adults.

Living in Thailand I am reminded constantly about my curse. In and out of air conditioning, the cold bugs being passed around, hell all someone has to do is look at me sideways and my throat begins to swell. One week into living in Pattaya and I found myself at the local clinic I have been going to for years; the doctor just smiled and said “you know the routine”. Up on the table for the inevitable shot of penicillin in the ass and a few bags of antibiotics to take home. Usually within 2 days I am completely fine.

Sunday was yet another of those days, a little over a month later and my friend was back. I’m beginning to wonder if my tonsillitis friend is starting to think he is a female curse. This time it’s a bit stronger so I got a return visit the next to turn the other cheek as it were.

There is no doubt that Thai doctors love to over prescribe antibiotics but at least in my case the doctor knows me and changes up the prescriptions. Best of all within 2 days I am back to my normal self. I just hope this isn’t a monthly occurrence.

Now, if I were in America this trip to the doctors office would have cost me $100 minimum and the drugs prescribed would be another $100 easily without a prescription plan. In Thailand the doctor at the clinic not only prescribes the medicine but he also dispenses it. Not only is this efficient but economical as well, the clinic visit with 3 prescriptions cost me 800 baht or roughly $26.

I guess I can live with my friend as long as he’s being a cheap date.

Postscript: Turns out this was one of my more friendly attacks as I had to visit the hospital for some IV antibiotic loving…I might just start looking into the surgery.

Related Articles of Interest:

• Travel Insurance
• Travel Insurance, Don’t Leave Home Without It!
• Living Like a Thai Day 23: Put a Fork in it…I’m Done
• What Happens in Mukdahan Stays in Mukdahan
• The Over Prescription of Antibiotics in Thailand

Today marks the 20th annual World AIDS Day. Sadly,  by now the hope was there would be a cure and no more need for such days. Today and any day that AIDS awareness can be front and center to the worlds populace is extremely important, especially when the disease has faded in the minds of most people. Thailand’s AIDS story is one of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and just one reason why awareness is so important, not just today but every day.

AIDS research and prevention programs have been hard enough for the largest and most affluent countries of the world to handle so one can imagine how hard it’s been to educate and create public policy in developing nations, especially those hit hard by the disease. There are no developing countries in the world where public policy has been more effective in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS than in Thailand.

Thailand’s comprehensive prevention programs have been very well funded and politically supported which has saved a considerable many lives.  Thailand saw the HIV infection rate decrease yearly from 1991 when new HIV infections were at 143,00 to 2003 when new HIV infections bottomed out at 19,000.

Unfortunately 2003 is also the year the new infection rates began to rise again in gay males and since 2003 the real fear has been a new  resurgence of infections. To this end Thailand has started to aggressively promote public awareness programs again. The problem is still very real when more than  1 in 100 adult Thai’s are infected with the disease and AIDS is now among the leading causes of death in Thailand.

Whenever you hear statistics referring to AIDS in Thailand the fist assumption is that the sex industry is the culprit and while that may have been true during the initial stages of AIDS progression in Thailand,  today is a much different story. The Thai government,  due in large part to their public policies and programs in the 90′s,  have reduced visits to commercial sex workers by Thai men by more than half  as well as decreased sexually transmitted infections, raised condom awareness and substantially decreased new HIV infections.

The majority of HIV and AIDS cases in Thailand today occur through heterosexual sex with the largest groups of new infections being seen in teenagers, married females and gay males. Even though Thailand was fast to implement prevention programs in the 90′s they have been lax in the last decade and most of today’s teenagers were not old enough to understand the prevention campaigns that were so prevalent during the 1990′s.

The current situation in Thailand as of 2008

• The majority of Thailand’s HIV infections (around 80%) occur through heterosexual sex.
• HIV affects more men than women in Thailand; the male-female ratio is 7:5.
• HIV prevalence among pregnant women, which reached a peak of 3.4% in 1992, had fallen to 0.87% by 2006.
• An estimated 1 in 5 new HIV infections in Thailand are attributable to unprotected sex between men.

Obviously these statistics are very sobering and reason for real concern. Thailand’s original AIDS awareness programs dealt a serious blow to the infection rates seen between 1991 and 2003 but, unfortunately, the Thai government became complacent once numbers began to drop. In 2001 government funding of the HIV/AIDS programs was half what it was in 1997 , by 2006 that budget was reduced by two thirds.

The declining focus on prevention saw condom use decrease and sexually transmitted infections on the rise again. Fortunately in 2007  the Thai government once again took action and set up a strategic three year plan to get back on track with prevention programs. The Thai government specifically set out to reach those groups most affected by increased infection rates as well as the nation as a whole.

Thailand’s story of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention should be a case study for every nation in the world. A once prolific program that saw infection rates decline dramatically was almost completely derailed by complacency. Thailand is back on the right path and will hopefully remain vigilant in this fight against HIV/AIDS.

It’s important that we remain vigilant world wide and keep up the efforts from awareness to prevention programs. We shouldn’t have to have a special day to remind us, every day is special and every day is important in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Now go out and tell someone about it.

Related Articles of Interest:

• Bangkok World Gourmet Festival 2011
• The New Walking Street Sign
• Pattaya Declared Virus Free
• Fine Dining at the Bangkok Shell Station Revisited
• BNE the Bane of Bangkok