Music video aims to boost HIV awareness among teenagers

[Lite Beer]

Music video aims to boost HIV awareness among teenagers
Phumpetch Roumjit
The Sunday Nation

An actress in a new music video about a woman living with HIV who is unsure if she should tell her partner about her condition.

BANGKOK: -- A new music video is "reaching out" to the public in a bid to give people a better understanding of HIV/Aids sufferers and facilitate wide-ranging discourse on the issue.

"With greater public understanding and acceptance, the infected won't need to conceal their infections and can seek advice from others," said Suntaraporn Keskaew, project manager of the Thailand Network of People Living with HIV/Aids.

Her network has joined hands with the Payai Creation to launch the music video "Kwam Jing Thi Yak Bok Untold Story".

Sung by Earn-Kwan Waranya, the video is based on true stories of many teenagers with HIV/Aids.

In the video, an infected girl says she is afraid to tell her friends, thinking they would never accept her or would tell others that she has the disease.

"But communication is important. The rate of condom use is higher among those who have told their partners that they are infected," said Chutima Saisaengjan, who heads the We Understand group, a non-government organisation that helps children and teenagers living with HIV/Aids.

It is hoped the video will move people so they empathise with others who have HIV/Aids and give them moral support.

The video can be viewed on Youtube and downloaded on www.facebook.com/TNPplus.

With more advanced medical technology, the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmissions during pregnancies has been lowered to just over 2 per cent. People who discover the disease quickly are able to live a healthy life.

Chutima said that some teens who have the virus received encouragement from friends and family members so they were confident that people would accept them.

Unfortunately, she said some young sufferers had faced discrimination and hate by individuals around them, which had led them to stop taking medication and dying.

As someone working closely with children and teens with HIV/Aids for 15 years, Chutima said HIV was not easy to catch and there were ways to protect yourself from the disease. Meanwhile, people who were infected could continue living normal lives.

She warned that the rate of new HIV infections and related deaths among young adults was increasing due to reckless lifestyles and a lack of encouragement from society.

Apiwat Kwangkaew, Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids president, agreed that there were still negative attitudes towards the infected.

"Some people simply judge everyone with HIV - that they are involved in immoral or irreligious sexual habits. That is very unfair to us," he said.

He said government departments and private companies could help by accepting people with HIV/Aids.

"We hope this music video will help everyone understand that living with people who have HIV is possible," he said.

The 1663 hotline is available for consulting about HIV/Aids issues.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Music-video-aims-to-boost-HIV-awareness-among-teen-30244293.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-28

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