Above is a short film called "A Reason to Smile" from Scenarios from Africa
A script-writing contest. A short film directed by Africa’s best. A breath of fresh air as to how HIV-positive individuals are stereotyped. These are the things that amazed me about Scenarios in Africa’s work. Discussed by Dr. Kate Winskell, this section was Week 3’s highlight for me. The creativity by which Scenarios addressed the HIV and AIDS through education inspired me to look through the other creative ways that the disease is being dealt with. It is fortunate that, in my years of advocating for reproductive and sexual health in my country, I have had the pleasure of meeting Thailand’s Condom King, Mechai Viravaidya. I am not Thai – I am Filipino – but I admire Khun Mechai’s humor and his no-nonsense, out of the box approach to bringing down HIV and AIDS.
In the late 1980s, the number of HIV positive individuals soared to spic proportions in Thailand. In fact, in 1991, there were roughly 140,000 cases per year in the country.[i] Over a twelve-year period, however, these numbers plunged by an amazing 90%. World Bank estimated 7.7 million lives saved from the infection.[ii]
How was this done?
Like Scenarios, Thailand also tapped public awareness and education as its primary means of slowing the spread of HIV. The awareness campaign was headed by Mechai Viravaidya, who zeroed in on the problem: spreading the word about HIV and AIDS and providing basic services that would ensure protection against the disease in the fastest possible manner. To address this, Khun Mechai and his group tapped media and laymen. A compulsory 30-second infomercial was aired in television for every hour of broadcast and several TV and movie personalities were made advocates of HIV prevention. Information on the infection and its transmission can be found on calendars and other easily-seen materials. The military and the politicians were educated on the HIV and AIDS. Condoms were made available everywhere: in buses, shops, in taxis, in bars. HIV and AIDS education was launched in businesses and establishments, and it did not stop there. Schools would have AIDS Awareness Day, an event funded by businesses. Condom-blowing contests were a regular activity. University students were taught about the infection. They, in turn, helped secondary students learn about the disease. These secondary students passed the knowledge to primary school student. These kids would then go home and educate their parents and siblings about HIV and AIDS, often bringing with them complimentary condoms just in case one was needed. Khun Mechai himself penetrated Thailand’s red light district, often accompanied by someone wearing a multi-colored condom dress, to give out rubber to commercial sex workers as well as their patrons.
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| Photo by Yuri Baral. At Mulat Pinoy's Beyond Condoms talk with Mechai Viravaidya and other RH advocates of the youth. |
Condoms or, as Khun Mechai calls them, weapons of mass protection, became part of everyday life and were no longer sexualized. Many conservative societies demonize the use of the rubber to protect against disease, saying that promotion of such is also promotion of sexual promiscuity. This is one of the reasons why, as Dr. James Curran said, “people are having sex in a sea of virologic ignorance.” Khun Mechai went against these beliefs and made condoms an everyday object. Those who campaigned with him for safe sex wore dresses made of condoms. The rubber was used keep cellphones and other gadgets waterproof. He once demonstrated how it can be used to tie one’s hair back. These actions shook whatever shame the Thais have in acquiring the protective device.iii, iv
Mechai Viravaidya found a highly effective formula in stopping HIV on its tracks: tapping the grassroot level to educate one another, and making condom not just accessible, but also acceptable[iii] [iv]
“When money talks, people listen”
This is something that Khun Mechai said, when I met him in 2011, during a talk held in.[v] The belief in the power of business in uplifting people from poverty and from a degraded self esteem – things that People Living with HIV (PLHIV) often go through. This was what sparked the Positive Partnership Program.
In this program, a PLHIV partners with an HIV negative and they are given a loan to start a business. Not only does the business provide the PLHIV a source of income for medical needs such as anti-retroviral drugs, but it also allows the person to be re-integrated to society. Most PLHIV feel alienated due to their positive status. Positive Partnership empowers PLHIV by making them entrepreneurs – functioning members of society. The project was so successful that within 3 years from implementation, 91% of the loan had been paid off. iv,[vi]
The Positive Partnership Program hits two birds with one stone: PLHIV become financially independent and assert themselves as contributors to their community.
Radical approach
These methods were as aggressive as they are radical – and they worked. It did not take a miracle, but it did require that people change their behaviors and outlook about safe sex, conservative society or otherwise.
As of today, I have yet to see such revolutionary approach to dealing with HIV and AIDS in the Philippines, my country, where AIDS cases are growing steadily. I hope one day we would. This innovative method, just like Scenarios of Africa, which is aimed at behavioral change through creative information dissemination, should be taken into consideration by those who wish to bring down HIV and AIDS.
[iv] http://www.mechaifoundation.org/mechai_presents.asp (Please download the Thinking out of the Box (Family Planning and HIV/AIDS) PPS)
