Despite a more than a 10 percent rise in HIV prevalence among gay men, the Thai government is still debating whether to distribute antiretroviral drugs that could help prolong the lives of those infected.
The disease is especially prevalent among men aged 15 to 21 with a 12 percent rate of new infections each year.
Starting in 2005, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health along with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed over 4,800 patients who entered Bangkok clinics for testing. The study found that 41 percent of all new HIV infections in 2012 came from the homosexual male community.
Several factors play a role in the rise of HIV: the increase of gay bars that encourage risky behavior with special rooms for sexual activity, emergence of casual sex websites, and the lack of HIV testing, awareness, and sex education.
“The government doesn’t support [sexual education] because they think young people will have more sex if they learn about it,” said Nikorn Chimkong, president of the HIV Foundation Thailand. “The gay business has changed so much. It’s very easy to have sex inside these establishments.”
According to an article in IRIN News, the money that could be used to help prevent the disease from spreading amongst homosexual males is almost non-existent with less than 8 percent of resources going toward programs for this population in 2011.
