Stigma biggest obstacle in Thailand's fight against AIDS
Originally aired Channel NewsAsia on September 29, 2017
Despite the progress and advancements Thailand made in the fight against AIDS/HIV, stigma and social prejeduice remain the biggest obstacles. We talked to those living with the virus and those trying to combat with the ignorance and the disease itself.
TRANSCRIPT
Hidden in the hills of Lopburi province is a Buddhist temple that has been on the frontline of efforts to help people with AIDS live without discrimination. For more than three decades, Wat Phra Baht Nam Pu has provided a safe space for patients infected with HIV. More than 10,000 patients have been given sanctuary here.
Temple abbot, Phra Udom Prachatorn was behind the outreach. In the 1980s, he began taking care of people with AIDs who had been abandoned by their families People knew very little then about the disease, and many were afraid of the patients housed in the temple.
"When people heard that we have people with AIDS here, nobody wanted to come to the temple," tells the abbot, "The reactions were quite strong. The locals were against it and not only wanted us to stop, they wanted us to move elsewhere."
51-year-old 'Nui" - not her real name because she did not want to be identified - knows full well the stigma imposed on AIDS patients. She was infected with AIDS seven years ago and almost immediately after that, was branded an outcast by her community.
"No one looked after me, the neighbors despised me. I don’t have any relatives, no parents. It’s better stay here. Outside, I would struggle because society shuns me," "Nui" says. Niu now lives with hundreds of other AIDs patients on the grounds of the temple. She's been there for six years, afraid to venture out because of the discrimination she encounters.
Stigma and social prejudice are one of Thailand’s biggest obstacles in its fight against AIDs. Although the country has been effective in curbing the disease – reducing by 50 percent the annual number of new HIV infections – it has some way to go before those living with AIDs are fully accepted by society.
Thailand has been widely successful in its effort to stop the spread of AIDS. The number of new HIV infections has fallen from 140,000 in 1990 to an estimated 6,500 in 2016; and AIDs-related deaths have fallen by one third.
Health officials are determined to keep these numbers down. They say early detection is key.
"Here in Thailand we have a health care package that is available for even those that are not yet infected," explains Walairat Chaifoo from the Ministry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control, "You can take a HIV-test for free twice a year. That’s how we get more people to test and to know earlier whether or not they have the virus."
Health officials hope their efforts will make a difference for future generations. But for those now living each day with the virus, their hope is far less ambitious. All they want is for society to treat them without fear or discrimination.
"People shouldn’t be afraid. AIDS is not that easily transmitted. You can touch hands and everything. We have all taken our medicine," whispers "Nui".
Saksith Saiyasombut, Channel NewsAsia, Lopburi Province
Thai Govt Introduces Welfare Scheme for Low-Income Earners
Originally aired on Channel NewsAsia on September 21, 2017
A short report on the Thai government's introduction of a new welfare-scheme for low-income earners that grants cost-of-living allowances and public transport subsidies. This will replace other subsidised schemes such as free busses - and critics fear that more subsidies could be axed as well. And yes, it was hot outside...!
Thailand introduces sugary drinks tax to combat obesity, diabetes
Originally aired on Channel NewsAsia on September 16, 2017
If you have been to Thailand then you know we like things sweet - way too sweet sometimes. The Thai government has thus introduced a tax on sugary drinks, effective since Sep 16. Will this help Thais kick their habit or will it just turn people sour?
TRANSCRIPT
On a typical hot and humid day here in Bangkok, a cold drink is often a refreshing relief. For some, good old water is enough. But for many others, they need a bit of a sugar rush to beat the heat.
And people here do love their sweet stuff - too much actually, according to health statistics. On average, Thais consume 28 teaspoons of sugar - more than double the recommended amount by the World Health Organization.
And that limit can be easily reached by a can of soda. This can contribute to serious health problems as 32% of the population are overweight and 10% are suffering from diabetes - according to health officials, the numbers keep growing.
"We detect a continuous rise of [diabetes] patients," warns Dr. Sumanee Watcharasint from the Thai Bureau of Non-Communicable Diseases, "This past year, we have 600,000 new cases - that is the third-highest rate in Asia. And this also costs the state more in health care [for these patients],"
In order to bring this under control, Thai officials are looking to tax drinks based on their sugar content.
Now how exactly is this tax being implemented? In a nutshell, the sweeter the drink, the more tax the manufacturer pays.
So if a beverage contains between 6 and 10 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters, you’re looking at a 20 percent sugar tax. Drinks that have more sugar than that will be subject to a 25 per cent tax.
Here are a few examples:
A little brown bottle of energy drink contains 28 grams of sugar or 7 teaspoons – enough to give you a rush and it actually says on the label not to drink more than two of these a day.
Then we have a bottle of cola. This contains 55 grams of sugar - or about 14 teaspoons. Drink one of these and you’ve maxed out your sugar quota for the day, which is 12 teaspoons, according to the World Health Organization.
And by the way, if you’re wondering - diet versions or other artificially sweetened drinks are exempt from the tax.
Green tea drinks - very popular in Thailand – are also being hit by the tax. This one here contains 6 teaspoons of sugar, which means a tax of 25 percent.
How much more expensive are these drinks going to be, how hard will it hit sugar lovers? Well, in the first two years, the hike will be minimal. Less than a baht [holds up a 1-baht coin] or 3 US cents at most, in order to give companies and consumers time to adapt.
But after the two-year grace period, if manufacturers don’t cut down on the sweet stuff, the government could double the amount of sugar tax to be paid.
Channel NewsAsia tried to contact major Thai beverage companies. However, they have not replied to our requests. But according to excise officials, the industry is not turning sour over the tax.
"Actually, they responded quite well," says Nutthakorn Utensute, the director of the Excise Department's Tax Planning Bureau, "Because we have a grace period of two years, so they can reformulate their products and they’re using another sort of non-tax measure to encourage people to drink [beverages] with less sugar."
It remains to be seen if the tax will actually help Thais can kick the habit of consuming too much sweet drinks or if a price hike will leave a bad taste in their mouths.
Saksith Saiyasombut, Channel NewsAsia, Bangkok
UN Environment Chief on hurricanes, climate change and opprtunities
Originally aired on Channel NewsAsia on September 7, 2017
I sat down with Erik Solheim, the Executive Director of UN Environment, to talk about the effects of climate change on the recent hurricanes in the Americas, similar disaster risks in the Asia-Pacific region and what's been already done to contain the effects of global warming and more needs to be done.
TRANSCRIPT
SAKSITH SAIYASOMBUT: "Mr. Erik Solheim, thank you very much for taking your time. Let's start off with very recent events: There have been many hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Hurricane Harvey caused huge devastation in Texas and Hurricane Irma is on the way and so are two other tropical storms/hurricanes. How much has climate change contributed to this destructive force of nature?"
ERIK SOLHEIM: "On these kind of issues obviously we need to listen to the scientists who understand it much more properly than I can. And there seems to be fairly broad global scientific agreement that these storms are intensified by climate change - they're not caused by climate change, because we have had storms all over the planet since god created this beautiful planet - but much more intense, creating more havoc, and more damaging to environment and to humans than in the past."
SAIYASOMBUT: "Are there similar risks when it comes to tropical storms and what other natural disaster risks do we have here?"
SOLHEIM: "Yeah, I mean after all of course the risk to humans is bigger in Asia than America because the population is so much higher. I was frequently visiting Myanmar after the Nargis cyclone, which killed more than 100,000 people in one night in the delta region in Myanmar. So there can be no doubt that Asia is very very vulnerable to this. However, the good news: Asia is also much, much more prepared - we’re going to say that - the outlying regions of Bangladesh, people are prepared. They have built houses on pillars so that the cyclone can go under, they [have] warning systems by mobile phones, so that they can be warned and there’s weather forecast where there was not in the past. So yes, we will see much wilder, much worse natural events - but we’re also much better prepared to handle that fortunately."
SAIYASOMBUT: "In recent years, it has become quite obvious that the effects of climate change become more stronger and stronger and the time to fix or to contain the effects is slowly running out. Where are we at right now when it comes to combatting the effects of climate change, not only on a global scale but also in the Asia-Pacific?"
SOLHEIM: "In my view, we have clearly made the shift. We are on the right track. We are rapidly going into renewables, to solar, to wind, we are starting with electrical mobility and the cities going into electrical parks and cars. So we are on the right track. The only issue is the speed, because the climate warming is happening very fast, so we need to speed up. It’s like a train which hast left the station, we know the destination - but to reach in time, we need to speed up."
SAIYASOMBUT: "Let’s talk about the central topic of this summit here. It’s about pollution and it’s about how to effectively use the resources that we have here in the region but without having a negative effect on the enviroment and on the people living here. Have you, in your expierence, seen - is it a balance that is hard to strike?"
SOLHEIM: "I think we need to go into a completely new thinking - and we are. Which is that we cannot either develop or protect the enviroment. We need to devise policies that where we do both at the same time. And the good news is that is happening much faster than than we thought. President Xi [Jinping of China] has declared that fight against pollution with the fight against poverty will be the biggest ambitions of China in the next five years. Prime Minister Modi of India has really put India into a development path where they go- provide prosperity, getting out of extreme poverty while doing [it] through solar, through wind and through going green. So, for the first time in human history we have no choice between development and enviroment - one policy which will achieve both."
SAIYASOMBUT: "Mr. Erik Solheim, thank you very much!"