Spreading the message of
controlling and eventually eliminating AIDS.
Manoon Makpol
Public officials, educators and health professionals in
Pattaya marked World AIDS Day with a parade, free condoms and information to
curtail the spread of the disease in Thailand.
Every year the World Health Organization designates Dec. 1 as
World AIDS Day with this year’s theme again being “Stop AIDS; Keep the Promise.”
Organizers promoted a message of “universal access and human rights” with the
emphasis being placed on raising awareness to the risks of contracting the
disease.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome led the march of more than 2,000
people, helping hand out condoms through South Pattaya amid a colorful
procession of floats and fancy dresses.
The mayor later emceed an evening AIDS Day ceremony at
Pattaya School No. 8, where he highlighted the WHO’s five year goal to achieve a
0 percent infection and death rate. The mayor noted that AIDS patients in
Thailand receive care under the social insurance program and that many
organizations are supporting them.