With the most mature, and one of the most successful, HIV/AIDS response in the region, Thailand continues to provide valuable lessons and models for other East Asia and Pacific countries. UNICEF programming aims to facilitate this sharing, while ensuring that the response within Thailand is maintained and continues to develop.

Most UNICEF activities related to HIV/AIDS take place in the Upper North and the Northeast, with project support from the UNICEF area offices in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.

Harmonizing with a national policy of decentralization, UNICEF has focussed on area-based initiatives and the role of local-tier agencies, particularly the new semi-elected sub-district administration organizations (TAOs).

With infection rates still high among women of reproductive age, a priority for UNICEF is building national capacity in the linked areas of reducing transmission to women of reproductive age and the care and support of vulnerable children, families and communities. Other priorities under the Mekong Partnership and Beyond include better targetting youth with reproductive health interventions and improving the database and service provision for men who have sex with men.

The Small Grant Facility has enabled UNICEF to support a number of promising initiatives growing up in affected communities. With international and national funding of the HIV/AIDS response in Thailand uncertain, UNICEF plays a critical role in ensuring that NGOs, especially small local NGOs, can continue to operate.

Working with Schools

The expanding Thai Child Friendly Schools Program (CFSP) seeks to establish rights-based education that promotes physical and mental health alongside quality education. Integral to the program has been the greater involvement of families and communities in strategizing and in school-related activities.

Young peer educators at a school in northern Thailand talk about HIV/AIDS prevention and tolerance

In eight CFSP schools in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, including two government-run boarding schools with many students affected by HIV/AIDS, UNICEF supports a project modelling new approaches to promoting the psychosocial development and resilience of children and youth affected by HIV/AIDS. Teachers have received training in psychosocial counselling for children and in implementing psychometric testing to identify children suffering from depression, and monitor their progress. In additions, schools have held a variety of camps for vulnerable children, including Lifeskills development camps and "Rainbow Camps" to improve communication between orphans and their carers.

In 2000, two years after the start of the project, an evaluation in the first three schools found orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS in the schools were better integrated socially, and showed improvements in depression and self-esteem across the student body. The project is implemented by the Life Skills Development Foundation in collaboration with the Office of the National Primary Education Commission.

In-depth information on Thailand's Child Friendly Schools Program can be found in the UNICEF publication Making Schools More Child Friendly

Reducing Impacts on Children and Families

UNICEF continues to be a prime mover in the area of children affected by HIV/AIDS in Thailand, including services to encourage and support care of orphans within the extended family.

Talking to the village children – community-level in Mae Chan district, Chiang Rai province

In the North and Northeast, UNICEF continues to support a number of local initiatives for HIV/AIDS-affected families and children, run by NGOs, community-based organizations, religious leaders and self-help groups of people with HIV/AIDS. The District-based Program for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in northern Thailand supports multisectoral district committees that plan, coordinate activities and allocate resources for care and support activities in their districts.

To enrich current activities, UNICEF is supporting action-research into the changing needs of elderly people (usually grandparents) raising children and adolescents, including the long-term impacts of HIV/AIDS on mental health of families, on employment and on educational outcomes; and into the needs of children caring for elderly relatives.

The Sangha Metta Project

The Sangha Metta Project has proven an effective catalyst for participation by Buddhist clergy and communities in community-level HIV/AIDS prevention and care. With UNICEF support, Sangha Metta has already hosted workshops and study visits for Buddhist monks from both within Thailand and from neighbouring countries, and has served as the inspiration for many similar projects.

UNICEF continues to support the mobilization of Buddhist leadership for HIV/AIDS prevention and community care and support of people living with HIV/AIDS and building capacity for Sangha Metta to provide a model for the region.

A mix of dharma teaching and HIV/AIDS awareness for these young people in a "dharma camp" run by Sangha Metta-trained monks

Sangha Metta is providing technical assistance for a new collaborative project being developed between UNICEF and the Department of Religious Affairs to train monks in the needs and care of children affected by HIV. Currently many temples receive orphans as temple boys or novices, but have little understanding of the special circmustances of children orphaned by AIDS, such as stigmatization and the deaths of several members of the family following long periods of illness. The project is scheduled to start in the first half of 2002.

With Hope and Help

The first With Hope and Help package to be completed was for Thailand. Sets are being distributed en masse to peer-support groups of people with HIV/AIDS, community-based organizations, NGOs and Buddhist groups, and UNICEF provides training in their use.

A Regional Resource

Since the 1990s, Thailand has been the most important source of HIV/AIDS programming experience and expertise in the Southeast Asia and Pacific region. The Kingdom regularly receives foreign visitors wishing to learn more about Thai initiatives and programs in HIV/AIDS and other areas of programming for children. In response to this, UNICEF Thailand has established a program component called Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC), specifically designed to coordinate and manage exchange visits, professional attachments, study visits and training.

A visiting monk spends time with a baby orphaned by HIV/AIDS

Some recent HIV/AIDS-related study tours in Thailand organized by UNICEF:

• May 2001: Study visit for the Supreme Patriarchs of Cambodia's main Buddhist sects;
• November 2000: Staff from Cambodian NGO NYEMO, which works with sex workers and their children, visited a number of projects and agencies concerned with mothers and children affected by HIV/AIDS.
• September-October 2000: Six Lamas from Bhutan visited community development and HIV/AIDS-related activities by Buddhist monks.

Several regional initiatives supported by the Mekong Partnership and Beyond have their roots in Thailand. The With Hope and Help series and Friends Tell Friends peer education curriculum were first conceived in Thailand. The Sangha Metta Project has been a key partner in training and program/activity development in the Regional Buddhist Leadership Initiative.

Leadership

The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Thailand, HE Anand Panyarachun has played an important role in raising and maintaining the high profile of HIV/AIDS in the Kingdom. In 1991-92, HE Anand was Prime Minister as the Thai government made its major commitment to the HIV/AIDS response. Now a respected and popular public figure, as UNICEF Ambassador since 1996, HE Anand continues to draw attention to HIV/AIDS issues and to programming and policy challenges.