Thai Village Opens Arms to Terminal HIV/AIDS Victims

by Marwaan Macan-Markar

Before them, others from Burma afflicted with HIV also slipped across the porous Thai-Burmese border to be cared for and die with dignity in this village of rice farmers, some 70 kilometers 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 organization involved in the battle against HIV/AIDS.

Among those who have come here to learn about this humane approach to HIV/AIDS are visitors 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 behavior 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."