Condom Use Is Down In Bangkok's Red-light District

[george]

BANGKOK: -- For years, international health experts have pointed to Thailand as a rare success story in the global battle to contain the AIDS epidemic. The situation looked grim for the country in the 1980s, when doctors reported that sex workers in Bangkok's famous red-light district were beginning to test HIV positive. There were dire predictions that the virus would spread rapidly through the population, infecting as many as 4 million of the country's 65 million people by 2000.

It didn't happen. Instead, the Thai government launched a comprehensive education and prevention campaign. Brothels started using condoms. Public-service messages were broadcast on radio and television every two hours. Anti-AIDS messages—often served with a healthy dose of sanuk, the Thai sense of playfulness—were spread in schools, hospitals, police stations and courthouses. After peaking at 143,000 in 1991, the annual number of new cases of HIV infection fell to 19,000 in 2003. That still leaves 604,000 Thais living with HIV or AIDS, but it could have been much, much worse.

Now, as scientists and activists from around the world gather this week in Bangkok for the 15th international AIDS conference, two new reports from the U.N. warn that Thailand's triumph may be in jeopardy. While Thai men are no longer visiting brothels in the numbers they once did, there has been an increase in extra-marital affairs and casual sex, and condom use has fallen dramatically. Meanwhile, HIV infection rates have spiked among young people, pregnant women and intravenous-drug users.

Several factors have contributed to the worsening trends. "We have become complacent," says Mechai Viravaidya, (a.k.a. Mr. Condom), a senator and the principle architect of Thailand's successful anti-AIDS program of the 1990s. "People think because they can't see HIV anymore that we have it kicked, and they are taking risks again." Following the Asia-wide economic crash of 1997, successive Thai governments have slashed budgets for prevention programs to less than half their 1997 levels. Condom funding is down, education programs in schools have ended, and the media campaign has all but disappeared. Meanwhile, other avenues of infection—such as drug users sharing needles and men having sex with other men—have been largely ignored.

And in an understandable but no less ironic twist of fate, the advent of effective anti-HIV drugs has lulled folks at all levels of society into dropping their guard against HIV—just as it did in the U.S. and other countries. "This government has done a good job on treatment and care," says Dr. Praphan Phanupak of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. "But they have to get back into prevention. There needs to be a balance [between treatment and prevention] if you want to contain this virus."

Despite recent setbacks, Thailand is still probably the most successful country in the world in checking the spread of HIV. But AIDS flourish-es where attention lags, and attention is lagging not just in Thailand but in all of Asia, where 1 of every 4 new infections now occurs. HIV infection rates have hit new peaks in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. And in India, 5.1 million people are now thought to be HIV positive—making it second only to South Africa in number of cases. AIDS is not invincible, but it is relentless.

--Time 2004-07-12

[Pepe']

Hi George,

Working with Senator Vravaidya's PDA group is one of the things I am planning on doing if I make the move to Thailand. We have allready been in contact. I was tentavively schedualed to attend this years conference but timing was not good.

AIDS?HIV treatment and prevention has been a substantial part of my training and practice.

Whe you find out more about what is happening in Africa, India and potentialy Thailand it is quite sobering.

[system7]

we have all been to thailand, and said before we go, ok ill wear a condom, but it has not happened,due to drunkiness, condom breakage etc.. i personally have been to thailand many a time , still ok but u never know do u?? is it any worse than having a one night stand in your own city or town god only knows?

[sassienie]

So it appears that sex is killing us and aids is killing sex.

Seems like a bit of nooky with someone that we dont know too well or trust is a NO, NO.

The facts are, that there is no such thing as safe sex anymore. One mistake, we are dead for sure.

Only sure way is to put our Prospective sexual partners, under house arrest for three months. Then have them aids tested, if all clear, it is safe to merrily bonk your brains out, all night long.

But remember, dont have a cigarette afterwards, these give us lung cancer.

So whats the solution?

We could stay at home wanking all night, but I heard that makes one go blind.

How about the governments of the world supplying us all with blow up rubber dolls, now theres a good idea.

[snoophound]

Surely sensibility is the key here.

We get drunk and forget????

Do we get drunk and forget to look before we cross sukhumvit road?

Do we really understand what this can do to our lives?

Perhaps some more agressive ad campaigns on what aids can do aimed at the Falang would be good.

As I mentioned in another post and you can see plenty of sites on the web featuring bargirls that comdomless sex is commonplace.

Also some people even offer the girls more money for NO condom,paying more for a death sentence,on yourself,your wife your kids???

Classic case of thinking with dick not brain???

[Tony0703]

Very eloquently put snoophound...a rush of blood to the dick and brain! No thinking of the consequences here! Death sentence for sure...

[castelleone]

Somehow it is fatal that we have no choice. Intercourse with condom is not that much fun but safe.

We have to be strong and decide every times. A real dilemma.

[Tony0703]

Nobody like condoms BUT they are a necessary evil! Drunkeness is just sheer stupidity! I'm sure many drunks at the time have since died!

[Pepe']

we have all been to thailand, and said before we go, ok ill wear a condom, but it has not happened,due to drunkiness, condom breakage etc.. i personally have been to thailand many a time , still ok but u never know do u?? is it any worse than having a one night stand in your own city or town god only knows?

system7,

Been there done that. I have fortunately only had three break that I can remember.

I live 30 minutes from Tijuana, Back in the mid 80's I went through some pretty reckless and crazy times down there. In some ways beter than Thailand. There's something nice about sleeping in your own bed at night

Fortunately for guardian angels I came out OK.

Now I spend a lot of time in AIDS/HIV treatment and researchsort of a pay back for not getting it.

Just keep the condom on dude. Your odds of getting infected are astronomical, but not zero.

[system7]

your odds astronomical but not zero.. i shall remember those wise words at christmas on my next trip

[system7]

and as for the drunkiness and forgeting, let me rephrase that, being drunk

ignorant and damm right stupid and thinkin with the dick

something that i hold my hands up too and did in my early visits..

[splitlid]

Just keep the condom on dude. Your odds of getting infected are astronomical, but not zero.

so what are the odds??

[mtnthai]

This excuse, “I was drunk.” Doesn’t cut it when you’re mouthing off and being a boorish ass nor does it cut it when you are having sex or driving a car for that matter. Being drunk is just a lame excuse no matter what. If you cannot drink and control yourself stay home.

Nothing that anyone (including myself) can write here is really of much meaning given the fact that if you have the basic language skills to read the articles and reply in any way you have got to understand the issue and its severity. Whether you choose to write something daring or flippant or whether you choose to write a few words of caution we all know what this is about. Slow, agonizing and lonely death.

I am a child of the ‘60’s. We were the first generation to have access to the pill and free love, as we called it, a great combination that seemed to be a gift bestowed upon us. However, HIV / AIDS was lurking just around the corner.

I first came here in 1988. I was a simple backpacker out to see Asia. I had no idea that Patpong or the rest of the sex industry existed until I was here and someone introduced me to it. At that point the media blitz about HIV / AIDS was in full swing in the States and starting to go worldwide.

As a teenager growing up in New York I had little use for escorts and places like strip joints, which were the US equivalent to go-go bars, because I was sleeping with the greatest little hippie chicks the world has ever known and for gratis. There was absolutely no reason to have to avail myself of the services of a working girl. But, when I first laid eyes on Patpong many years later I thought to myself, this is great I think I’ll take a dip in this pool and I did. The only apprehension I had at the time was about the use of the condoms, I knew that I had too, but I had never had the need before in my life.

Upon paying my first ever bar fine (235 Baht / beers were 30 baht / ladies drink 40) I was presented with my change and a condom. All my dreams and problems were resolved in one smart action. The bar had provided me with the means, the protection, but most of all, the mindset required for the evening’s activities.

Needless to say after twenty years of bareback I was not to enthusiastic with the results of such a necessity but I persisted and adjusted and had some great times.

These were the days when the girls proudly flashed their little blue and green medical check-up books, volunteers dressed as condoms roamed the street preaching the commandments as set down by Dr. Meechai and banners were stretched across Patpong Road reminding us to be vigilant. And, as the article and history will show it all seemed to work.

But as time wore on and the system of prevention accomplished its task many others and I became complacent. (Also, as the girls rotated out of the business and new ones came to work they were younger and inexperienced and lacking the proper sexual education.) We yearned for the “good old days” and started to think that we were immune, supermen as it were, because we heard so little about infection. We made the mistake of confusing the results of the program with the idea that the disease really wasn’t out there.

I personally fell into a pattern over a 3 to 4 year period of neglect; luckily for me and all of my partners, nothing happened. Then one day I woke up and asked myself what the heck am I thinking and after that revelation I never went out in the rain without my rubbers again.

In the fifteen years that I have been here I have only seen or heard of a handful of cases within the communities of Patpong, Nana and Cowboy. I am sure there were many more, but that was always kept from us.

The point of all of this is: I think that the time has come, as the experts have stated, to get HIV / AIDS back out in the open where we are confronted with it’s realities on a daily basis. Require the bar owners to supply good decent condoms with every bar fine. (At today’s rates they can afford it.) Tell the mama sans to insist that the customers respect the realities of the day and protect their girls. Educate and remind the girls that oil based lubricants are of absolutely no use and counter-productive to their physical safety. Put the posters back into the restrooms that used to educate customers to the problems and get people talking again.

The desire for sex is not going away, the sex industry is not going away and HIV / AIDS is surely not going away. (Especially considering that most governments do not really see it as a priority and they just make statements about it to be politically correct.) We must once again police ourselves in the bedroom.

[Martin]

No surprise in this news. Usual pattern. A decade of confidence (boom) that gradually wears off, then depression (bust). There seems to be an inherent swinging of the pendulum.

We don't get (moderately) drunk and forget to look before we cross the road, as the brain still works (after a fashion) whilst we are drunk.

But behaviour under the influence of nookie is different.

If only parents and schools would teach, and youngsters would learn, the one sex-education lesson from which all else follows: "After puberty, the male has acquired an erecting penis. And he still has a thinking brain. But he only has enough blood to operate one at once".

If we could only get this across, they would get that condom on in the nick of time.

On Sukhumvit I once saw two T-shirts that gave me food for thought.

One said "Even dirty old men need loving" and the other said "Practise safe sex---marry and be faithful".

Of course, I only saw them because they hadn't been bought!

[royar2002]

Many times I heard from drunk tourist "They dont care because they can't find condoms large enough. In many place, I know it is hard to find condoms larger than size 50, but this is a deadly excuse for having sex without condom.

[falangman78]

On the subject of condoms.

I used to break many of the condoms on sale in Thailand. Even some of the Durex varieties that I believe is made in the USA.

This is due to the sizes being very small, if a condom is very tight and breaks it can leave a sore patch on your chap which leaves your at a far greater chance of infection than if you had not used a condom at all.

I recently discovered Durex Comfort that used to only be available at brances of Boots. With Boots closing at 10.00 pm making it not easy to obtain on a night out.

Recently branches of Family Mart and some small pharmacies have begun to sell these condoms which is good news. Its amazing that even 7 11 near the red light districts dont sell Durex Comfort.

So far I have used these condoms many times and have not had any breakages

Touch wood

Durex Comfort retail at about 80 Baht and come in a purple box.

[Toeknee]

Just keep the condom on dude.  Your odds of getting infected are astronomical, but not zero.

so what are the odds??

so what are the odds??

I once read that a Doctor stated that it is easier for a women to catch than a man, interior - exterior if you follow. He also went on to say that a woman infected could posssibly have sex once with 500 partners yet only pass on/infect one of them.

Of course if you play Russian roulette 500 times then your luck will surely run out.

I still think that Govts are not telling the full story. Young people have probably stopped listening to them and the anti-smoking bores.

[Tony0703]

Even with condom infection is still possible, I've known some who always wear condom to be infected. Better to be safe than dead.

[dtoodnut]

Many of the young ones did not witness the epidemic of the late 80's and early 90's are often willing to go bagless. Now many look at being a CSW as a self imposed death sentence. I can tell you first hand, that many that are willing to boink bagless now do so because they have nothing to lose. They already have it. I heard some very sad statistics from a few Issan girls about how many of their friends go home to check out. They are too young and sweet to meet such a tragic end. The finger is also a place for transmission. Beware of post manicure diddling. To boink unbagged in the LOS is like walking around Bagdad without body armour and wearing a stars and stripes tee shirt...you are asking for it. The bullet in the back is much more humane than the sah-lower death.

[cobra]

HIV may be the biggest kid on the block, but there's still plenty of Clap out there and more strains of NSU everyday.

Do you really need a week of pissing razor blades again to figure out it's retarded not to use a condom in this day and age,

(though I admit I never fasten my seatbelt ...)

[Debaryman101]

This is due to the sizes being very small.

i guess you make alot of BG's happy?

chok dee

[thamachat]

http://aras.ab.ca/articles/AIDSQuotes.htm

[Darlek]

this old problem of to wear or not to wear and what is the possible risk with a BG .

there was a UK TV programe many years ago when the inhouse Dr of the Kings group bars in patpong said there was an occasional + , but it wasnt anything dramatic.

i guess it all depends on if the girl is shagging a promiscuous thai bloke at home .

Down at the thermae i guess its more riskier as the girls there are somewhat more tacky and dont have checks.

You wouldnt want to risk it in a rural karoki bar in Issan but in BKK i might ,but not with a street girl from lumpini .

and are you circumcised or not ? another factor to consider in the risk stakes .

so many factors to consider before you ride bareback .

i probly wouldnt ride bareback in the thai brothels at jomtien or naklua dai , but i have taken a chance in the past , but then again there are many dead fishermen who became infected at Naklua .

so you analyse the region , the girl in question ,the bar or brothel ,check her puss and weigh up the risk factor before you dive in .

I have had bareback sex with girls who have subsequently died from AIDS ,unbeknown to me at the time ,and so far i have no symptoms of HIV . (they were infected by thais who have also died from AIDS)

So am i lucky or is the risk too tiny ? who can say ...

[Darlek]

Just keep the condom on dude.  Your odds of getting infected are astronomical, but not zero.

so what are the odds??

so what are the odds??

I once read that a Doctor stated that it is easier for a women to catch than a man, interior - exterior if you follow. He also went on to say that a woman infected could posssibly have sex once with 500 partners yet only pass on/infect one of them.

Of course if you play Russian roulette 500 times then your luck will surely run out.

I still think that Govts are not telling the full story. Young people have probably stopped listening to them and the anti-smoking bores.

you remember the old TV series Starsky & Hutch ? well Starskys wife became infected with HIV in the hospital after a transfusion and he was bonking her for a long time . he never became infected HIV from his wife .

[Martin]

Darlek's question "So, am I lucky or is the risk too tiny?" applies to so many, many things in this Life that ends in Death.

But Darlek is a rare man: he can, and will, put it into words and spell them out.

Thanks, Darlek.

[Englishman]

It's now statistical fact that 50 percent of people who smoke will die from it, yet people continue to smoke knowing there is a 50 percent chance it will kill them.

Are we all lemmings?!

This discussion that there is little risk from HIV... is a dangerous one and it worries me. It is true that for the last few years the risk has dratically reduced. I recently went for the test in the UK and my doctor told me that she sees many men who visit Thailand and in her eleven years in the job, she has only seen one of these men go HIV positive.

This relaxation in attitudes will be the virus's window of opportunity to make a comeback. If you <deleted>.ck enough prostitues for long enough, you are likely to catch the virus, maybe on the first occasion... and even if you consider the HIV risk to be low(foolishly) there are plenty of very common diseases to make your dick fall off.

Did you know there is even a disease that will make your dick look like cauliflower?

[RamdomChances]

Sorry to trivalise this serious subject, but could'nt resist.

Did you know there is even a disease that will make your dick look like cauliflower?

Is there one that will make it look like a cucumber?

Where can you catch it?

[Englishman]

There's always room for humour... Excellent LOL

[Erawan]

So far you have no symptoms? Have you actually had a HIV test? Where exactly can you get a HIV/STD test done in Thailand?

[waldwolf]

With regard to HIV/AIDS, in my opinion there is only one simple fact to think about, before you take risks:

Many people, including health care professionals, talk about "when we find a cure for HIV/AIDS.......".

The fact is, HIV is a viral infection and in the history of medicine, researchers have never found a cure for a viral infection. Yes, there are vaccines to prevent infection (not always 100% effective), but those vaccines do not cure the disease, if an individual is already infected.

Sadly, the rapid mutation which the HIV virus exhibits, will make even development of a vaccine extremely difficult, if not impossible.