Two sex workers and transgender groups offered free HIV and AIDS tests to honor HRH Princess Soamsawalee for her 60th birthday.
Representatives from the Sisters Foundation and Service Workers in Group (SWING) provided health checks July 12 on Pattaya Beach at Central Road.
The event attended by top Pattaya-area officials resulted from the cooperation between SWING, Sisters, and the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre. Together they run the Fast Diagnostic and Fast Cure Project to offer sex workers, transgender women and others HIV tests and treatment options.
Princess Soamsawalee supported the effort by providing funding to the Red Cross to purchase Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs to help prevent HIV transmission in homosexual men and women-of-the-second-category.
In the past 18 months, 157 people received PrEP treatments from the Sisters Health Center and SWING. None have developed symptoms of HIV so far.
The ceremony allowed the drug users and the organizations to thank the princess for her support.
