Thailand’s Success can be Emulated

Recently Thailand made headlines in the global health world as the first Asian country to eliminate mother-to baby HIV transmission. Today’s Thailand s a far cry from 1990’s; health experts from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in 2003 named HIV/AIDS the the country’s greatest health risk. The organisation concluded HIV/AIDs responsible for 4.4 percent of all deaths in the country, a large percentage for a disease the Thai government assured was ‘controlled’...

Twenty years into the future, Thailand has made leaps and bounds since then. After the Thai government allowed funding for routine screenings and universally free and accessible medication for pregnant women living with HIV in 2000, one of the very first countries in the world to do so, In the figure below, provided by Advert, showing HIV cases in Thailand from 2005 to 2013, the graph speaks for itself.Thailand saw a massive drop in the number of reported cases of HIV. Mothers with HIV have a 15 to 45 percent chance of giving the disease to their children if the disease is not treated, but by taking antiretroviral drugs, reduces the odds to one percent.

Other countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific could learn from Thailand’s efforts and emulate them. By allowing pregnant women with HIV free access to medication, Thailand guaranteed future generations would not see the same numbers of the disease in their own generations.

Given, certain countries governments will have more trouble providing free access and medication, but that is why it is up to us, aid services, to ensure people do have as equal access as we do living in a first world country to diseases that can be transmitted to newborns.

References:

1. http://global-health-impact.org/country.php#
2. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-08/thailand-first-in-asia-to-eliminate-mother-to-baby-hiv/7493538