klubex99

Not wanting an argument.....but.....

I remember reading an article a few years ago that said that the profession in Thailand with the highest incidence of Aids / HIV was actually long distance lorry drivers who haul Thai goods across all the neighboring countries in SE Asia.

Sounds about right - there was a chapter in a very good early book on AIDS in the 80s titled "The Road to Kinshasa" (forget the name of the book - sorry) about the spread by truck drivers in sub Saharan Africa.

The book was called The ****** Highway.... I forget the word.

Not wanting an argument.....but.....

I remember reading an article a few years ago that said that the profession in Thailand with the highest incidence of Aids / HIV was actually long distance lorry drivers who haul Thai goods across all the neighboring countries in SE Asia.

You are indeed 100% correct.

I worked in Africa quite a bit in the mid nineties when HIV and Aids were peaking. Buy far the highest concentrations of the disease formed a line right through the center of the continent, The Trans-African Highway, was even nicknamed after aids, although i cant remember the word for it off the top of my head.

But anyway... The spread of the disease was blamed on lorry drivers using the route and sleeping with a different bar girl every night, then going back to their wives and girlfriends and giving it to them. the statistics were astounding. For example, about 300 to 400 miles out from the road, the incidence of HIV was about 1 in 150 at the time, and 100 to 200 miles out from the road it was 1 in 60 and within 20 miles of the road it was 1 in about 25. This was consistent right down the highway.

The Africans had a strange perception of the disease in Malawi, where despite the huge amount of education funded by the west, The common perception was that you got it from swimming in the lake, and there was no way they were going to believe you could catch it from intercourse. No matter how much you try to convince them, they just shook their heads and laughed that the white man was only saying that to stop Africans from breeding. they also have no fear of death, they see so much of it, that they just shrug it off.

In Thailand, the attitude to death is much the same. You can tell that by the way they drive

But I will bet that the concentrations of the highest incidences of the disease are in fact found to be hugging the major arteries of the country, especially when you also consider that almost every Thai man has a gig or regularly visits the massage parlour for a rub down and a bit more.

This map says it was 1-2 % in 2008, so about the same (I'm guessing their very round 1 million figure is an estimate)

Still if that's the general population then for working girls and boy it must be much higher, perhaps 5 % is not unrealistic.

I would assume in the tourist areas it is lower than in the boonies up north and in Isaan. Where it is mostly Thai men doing the business.

Hmmmmm Nice to see that they are increasing the budget from 3 baht per infected patient, to a staggering 3.5 baht per infected patient.... Won't even buy half a paracetamol.

Yet look at that budget compared with the latest report on ministerial salaries being sucked out of the economy. One guy already had about 13.5 million baht in his first 6 months in office..... Is it just me?

Woooops misread it... Billion = 3500 baht... thats more like it $115 makes a lot of different.