[afro-nets] Health Affairs: Tackle Public Health And Poverty Together, Says Thai Policy Leader Who Has Led Efforts Against Population Growth, HIV/AIDS

["Kathleen Ford" <KFord@projecthope.org>]

Tackle Public Health And Poverty Together, Says Thai Policy Leader Who Has Led Efforts Against Population Growth, HIV/AIDS

Thailand¹s ³Positive Partnership² program, one of that nation¹s many innovative public health efforts, provides business loans to HIV-positive Thais who find an HIV-negative business partner, Mechai Viravaidya tells Glenn Melnick in an interview published today on the Health Affairs Web site.

³The person who is not infected has the responsibility of changing attitudes and behavior in their community towards people living with HIV and AIDS,² says Viravaidya, a former Thai senator and government minister who for over three decades has been a leader in campaigns against excessive population growth, HIV/AIDS, and other public health threats. The Positive Partnership program ³has created new lives for these HIV-positive people. Discrimination rates are down, they¹re accepted in their community, their income is good, and 84 percent of the partnerships repay their loans on time. This is higher than repayment rates for regular bank borrowers.²

You can read Viravaidya¹s conversation with Melnick, the director of the International Public Policy and Management Program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, at
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.26.6.w670

Health Affairs is pleased to make this article freely accessible for two weeks.

NEW ON THE HEALTH AFFAIRS BLOG

-- Jeff Goldsmith on the uninsured and the SCHIP debate
-- Cindy Mann and Jocelyn Guyer on the administration¹s new SCHIP directive
-- Linda Aiken discusses Pennsylvania¹s health workforce reforms
-- Rob Cunningham looks at where business will stand in the health reform debate

Health Affairs blog content is free to all site visitors.

--
Kathleen Ford 
mailto:KFord@projecthope.org