Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - September 23, 2004
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
The aid, promised in talks in Rangoon between Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan and her counterpart Kyaw Myint, consists of GPO-VIR pills produced by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation for 200 patients, mostly hilltribe villagers, for a three-year period and a million condoms.
"Apart from showing leadership and commitment in tackling the deadly virus, Thailand's resources can also be used to assist HIV/Aids patients in our neighbouring country," said Mrs Sudarat, who is due to return to Bangkok today.
Cooperation with the Burmese government also includes a health care programme aimed at fighting elephantiasis, malaria, meningococcal meningitis and tuberculosis, in addition to Aids, diseases that plague the 2,401km-long border.
Thai health authorities believe Burmese immigrants have spread infections to Thai villagers along the border, mainly in Tak and Kanchanaburi.
The ministry, meanwhile, will renew a plan to seek financial support from the Global Fund and the World Health Organisation to continue providing generic anti-Aids drugs and developing infrastructure in Burma.
The Global Fund had earlier declined to give billions of baht to the government due to its failure to clarify the importance of its efforts to initiate joint cooperation with the Burmese government or show how the funds would be used to curb Aids along the border.
Petchsri Sirinirund, the Disease Control Department's senior expert in preventive medicine, said the ministry was amending its proposal and will ask the Global Fund to reconsider its decision during the fifth round of funding talks expected to take place next year.
More details need to be included before the plan is proposed again and the ministry remains convinced of the long-term benefits of the plan to HIV/Aids patients in Burma, Cambodia and Laos, she said.
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