HHD’s South East Asia Office Uses Media to Address AIDS in Thailand

HHD’s Southeast Asia Initiative, located in Bangkok, often acts as a catalyst to find solutions to difficult health and social issues.  A recent partnership with Chulalongkorn University explores issues of migration, modernity, and HIV in Thailand.  The project is funded by Deutsche Bank and enlists local university students and residents to study community-based responses to the HIV and AIDS crisis in the country.  This effort aims to bring the plight of many marginalized members of Thai society to the forefront for a national audience. 

In Thailand, more than one in 100 adults is infected with HIV, and AIDS has become a leading cause of death.  The majority of infections, around 80 percent, occur as a result of heterosexual sex, and women are infected with HIV at three times the rate of men. 

To reach an audience of Thai universities, EDC staff collaborated with film students from Chulalongkorn University (“Chula”) to research, write, and film three documentaries designed to report on community-based responses to the HIV crisis.  This effort is a small sub-project of the Thailand HIV/AIDS Orphans project, which provides educational opportunities and support for orphaned children in Thailand.

The students and South East Asia HHD staff worked together to design and write the films’ scripts based on the complex social factors contributing to the problem.  In addition to working with the students to craft the scripts, HHD provided access to communities and schools for researching and filming the documentaries, arranged interviews with local stakeholders, and provided financial support. Eventually, the films will be used as part of broader educational modules currently in development.

To research the films’ content, the Chula students went into communities to conduct interviews, film activities, and interact with local residents – even spending the night in the homes of villagers to truly experience what their lives are like.  This was an important learning experience for the students at the elite university, who are often from wealthy families and do not know the challenges faced by those in rural or less affluent areas. 

“Mae Suai [a Thai village] is so far removed physically from Bangkok, and yet with the problem of HIV and AIDS, now I can see how connected we all are,” said Chula student Naiyaporn Jantaranives.
 
“The students were truly great – hard-working, intelligent, and disciplined,” commented HHD Project Officer Chutarat Wongsuwon. “The villagers really appreciated the students’ compassion on these sensitive issues.”

The eleven Chula students who participated in the project separated into three teams.  The first team studied the reasons behind the proliferation of HIV and AIDS in Thailand.  Their findings showed that the spread was related, in part, to labor migration from villages to the cities, as poor and marginalized people search for better lives.  As the villagers reach urban centers like Bangkok and Chiang Mai to seek their fortunes, they often turn to sex work or drug use, behaviors that put them at risk for contracting HIV and AIDS. 

The second team focused on exploring HHD’s HIV and AIDS prevention projects in local communities.  One group focused on HHD’s Peer Education program, in which youth from local communities inform their peers about HIV and AIDS prevention and safe-sex practices. After being trained by HHD project staff, the Peer Educators hold media broadcasts on school radio on the topic, and give teaching sessions where they discuss HIV transmission risk factors. “It is incredible to see how these young students can have a big impact in their community.   They make us think of how we can also contribute to the society,” said Chula student Thanapol Chaowanich. 

The third team examined issues of children whose parents have died of AIDS.  The majority of these children live with their grandparents, and the Chula students studied the relationships between these two distant generations, ways to bridge the generational divide, and the challenges the families face in terms of eking out a livelihood without a primary breadwinner.  

When all of the field research was completed, the students and HHD staff created three 15-minutes documentary films designed to be viewed either as a whole or independently.  The first film’s purpose is to educate the public on transmission risk factors, life skills to prevent HIV, and safer migration; the second details the Peer Education program; and the third covers the generational issues of the orphans and their grandparents.  Project staff hope that the films will be picked up by Thailand’s national educational television so they can reach local communities.

The films have enjoyed early screening at Thai film festivals, with the film portraying generational issues selected for the Thai Non-governmental Organizational Film Festival.  In addition to using the film to prevent the spread of HIV, HHD and Chula plan to distribute the completed films to the public during forums such as the Chulalongkorn film festival, and other film festivals in Bangkok and beyond.

“The project is a great opportunity for Chulalongkorn students to work in the field and to learn more about the HIV and AIDS issue that has long been part of Thai society.  They have gained social consciousness and were challenged on how they can make a difference in the society through their careers as film makers and media professionals,” said Chula film teacher Sopawan Boonnimitra. 

For more information about the Thailand HIV/AIDS Orphans Project, please contact Elliott Prasse-Freeman, EDC’s Regional Project Coordinator at Elliott@edc.org or +66 (0) 2664 2533 ext. 22.

February 8, 2007