Lovecare service eyes teens, gays with HIV

In a bid to eradicate the HIV/Aids epidemic by 2028, Thai health authorities and Unicef teamed up to launch a new online health station yesterday focusing on teenagers and homosexuals.

The Ministry of Public Health found that 55% of the 5,000 patients it saw last year were aged 25 or younger, while gay men and transsexuals accounted for 40% of the people who contracted the virus in 2017, according to Dr Samarn Futrakul, director of the ministry’s bureau of Aids, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections.

“The good news is that at one point this country was tallying over 150,000 people contracting HIV/Aids per year, and last year we documented around 5,000 cases,” said Dr Samarn.

“The bad news is that it is difficult to reduce the rate without tackling those particular groups at greatest risk,” he added, referring to the two aforementioned demographics.

Dubbed “Lovecare YMSM” it will focus on imparting knowledge, providing consultations, arranging blood tests and organising medical diagnoses.

The country has set the ambitious goal of totally eradicating the disease in 10 years.

The new service will provide two free blood tests a year to check for HIV.

Those who are infected will get free lifetime access to the required medications so the virus can be controlled and transmission stopped.

Although Thailand’s efforts to combat HIV have been relatively successful, infection rates are still rising among gay men and teenagers, Thomas Davin, a representative of Unicef Thailand, said yesterday at Siriraj Hospital.

“When we ask teenagers in Thailand about how to protect themselves from HIV, up to half of them said they don’t know. With the social taboo of talking about sex, teenagers are afraid to ask their parents and friends,” he said.

Antiretroviral treatment for Aids (ARV) is already available at over 25 medical service departments across Bangkok, said Dr Wongwat Liwlak, a representative of Bangkok’s Medical Service Department (BMS).

The BMS will expand this to all of its 68 facilities in the capital soon, he said.