Abstract

PIP: The HIV epidemic is far from over in Thailand. A male population with high levels of HIV sexual risk behavior and, in particular, the widespread and frequent use of commercial sex helps to perpetuate the epidemic. Condom use has risen dramatically in commercial sex, but much more remains to be accomplished before HIV is brought under control in Thailand. For example, the Thai population is quite knowledgeable about HIV and AIDS. Efforts must be made, however, to clear up major misconceptions harbored by many people about the disease. Sexually active men must be made aware that they cannot tell by looking at a person whether he or she is infected with HIV. Little is known about risk behaviors or seroprevalence in homosexual and bisexual men. Increasingly, noncommercial casual sexual contacts will assume a much larger role in HIV transmission in Thailand. Available evidence suggests that women are engaging in premarital and extramarital sex often enough to justify intensifying intervention programs targeting these women. The development and implementation of these latter interventions are particularly critical given the high levels of HIV infection among young Thai men and the low levels of condom use in these noncommercial sexual encounters. Blood transfusion is no longer an important route of HIV transmission, although the use of unsterile injection equipment by medical practitioners outside of the formal medical system may still be an issue of concern.