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Feature Articles
The Philippines and Thailand: The Truth About AIDS |
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...Rene Josef Bullecer, M.D.
There has been a wealth of misinformation and misleading interpretations of facts surrounding the spread of HIV/AIDS in Thailand and the Philippines. Anti-life forces, of course, continually push and spin facts while working toward their deadly agenda. These organizations view condom distribution as the one great solution to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS even though time and experience has proven just the opposite. Recently, BBC and UNFPA's Director, Ms. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, suggested that even calling into question the effectiveness of the condom, as Cardinal Lopez-Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family recently did, would actually spread the disease. She boldly stated that "the statements of Cardinal Trujillo could contribute to the further spread of HIV/AIDS." Let's examine the actual figures: The first AIDS case in Thailand was diagnosed in 1984, when a homosexual prostitute tested positive for the disease. Later it spread among the female and male prostitutes, and among intravenous drug users. The first AIDS case in the Philippines was also diagnosed in 1984. By 1987, there were 112 cases of HIV/AIDS infection in Thailand and 135 cases in the Philippines. |
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In 1991 the World Health Organization (WHO) AIDS Program forecasted that by 1999 Thailand would have 60,000 to 80,000 cases, and that the Philippines would experience between 80,000 and 90,000 cases of HIV/AIDS. During that same year the Minister of Health of Thailand, Mr. Viravedya, launched the heavy-handed, "100% Condom Use Program." All brothels were required to stock a large supply of condoms, and condom vending machines appeared in supermarkets, bars and other public places. This initiative was widely accepted by the people of Thailand. I was able to visit Bangkok in both 1994 and 1997 to see this first-hand. A year after this program was set loose upon Thailand (1992), the infamous Secretary of Health (now a senator), Mr. Juan Flavier, tried to implement the program in my own country, the Philippines. This small, 4'11'' man tried every technique he could think of to get his country to accept the flood of condoms waiting to invade. He even went so far as to mock and deride Church leaders.
Flavier's efforts in the Philippines failed, however, and in 1999 the UNAIDS reported 755,000 total confirmed cases of HIV infection in Thailand-65,000 had died of the disease. That same year, in the Philippines, the total number of HIV cases was only 1,005. The disease had killed only 225 people. The discrepancy in the infection rates between the two countries, Thailand with severe condom-oriented programs and the Philippines without, has continued and only grown wider. As of August 2003 there were 899,000 HIV/AIDS cases documented in Thailand and approximately 125,000 deaths attributed to the disease. These numbers are many times those projected by the WHO (60,000-80,000 cases) in 1991. These numbers contrast sharply with those of the Philippines where, as of September 30, 2003, there were 1,946 AIDS cases resulting in 260 deaths. This is only a mere fraction of the number of cases (80,000-90,000) that the WHO projected would be reached by 2000. Due to the unabated rise of cases of HIV/AIDS in Thailand, the UNPFA sponsored a meeting in Bangkok in September 2003. Unable to curb the spread of the disease, they are focusing now on AIDS care. Ironically, records show that majority of the AIDS hospice centers are currently owned and being run by the Catholic missionaries, particularly the Camillian Fathers! The discrepancy between the numbers of HIV/AIDS cases in Thailand and the Philippines is particularly poignant considering that the Philippines is actually the more populous country. According to the U.N., Thailand has 66 million people. While according to the USAID-funded Commission on Population, the Philippines is now home to 82 million souls. |
