About 150 Sattahip students learned about AIDS and how to avoid contracting it at a city-sponsored seminar.
Sattahip City Manager Rungroj On-wong led the Feb. 12 “Teenagers Avoiding AIDS” seminar, during which lecturers from Sattahip Km. 10 Hospital told youths from Ban Taothan and Ban Sattahip schools about the history of the disease, both worldwide and in Thailand, and how they can take steps to prevent catching the HIV virus that leads to AIDS.
Rungroj said 40 million people worldwide have contracted AIDS since its outbreak in the early 1980s, with 25 million of them having died already. While infections have decreased in some countries, victims have actually increased in Thailand in recent years, he said. Thailand has so far had nearly 370,000 HIV patients, with more than 98,000 of them having died already.
The students were told that more than science is needed to prevent the spread of AIDS. Good morals and behavior will keep kids from putting themselves in high-risk situations, such as having unprotected sex or taking intravenous drugs, Rungroj said.
Sattahip Deputy Mayor Trithep Tosawongchai said students, parents and governments need to work together to help teens avoid AIDS.
