An overall decrease in the number of HIV infections in year 2006 has not brought a sigh of relief for Thailand’s health ministry. The fact that has sparked panic in the health department is that married people are accounting for 40 per cent of new HIV/AIDS cases.
Out of 17,000 new cases, 7000 have been reported by married people. Forty percent of new infections in married couples have been reported by wives who contracted the infection from their husbands, while 10 percent were husbands who were infected by their wives. Extra-marital affairs and sex with prostitutes was the reason for the rest of infections. Another shocking revelation made by the survey conducted by the ministry’s disease control department is that condom use among couples has gone down to just 44 to 52 percent.
Thawat Suntrajarn, the department’s director-general, who called the trend “worrisome” said,
Despite the decrease of overall new infections, there are some signs that the AIDS problem in Thailand might get worse again.
Around 500,000 Thais are living with HIV/AIDS, which accounts as one of major causes of deaths in Thailand.
