Thailand guide
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| © New Internationalist |
The surface elements of comedy and tragedy that punctuate Thai politics mask a serious underlying threat to democracy. Opposition groups refuse to respect the sanctity of the ballot box whilst the elected government appears blind to the subtleties of pluralism that democracy demands. Continued failure to restore effective government at a time of global upheaval could jeopardise Thailand’s solid achievements in human development since 1990.
updated October 2008
Poverty in Thailand
Thanks to the strong performance of its economy during much of the 1990s, Thailand has already achieved most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The percentage of the population living below the national poverty line (based on the cost of essential food and non-food items) has been reduced from 27.2% in 1990 to 8.5% in 2007. With almost universal literacy and primary education enrolment, the country is now concentrating on improvement of access to secondary education.
Thailand has therefore set a range of more demanding targets, dubbed "MDG plus". These goals include the aim to reduce poverty to 4% by 2009 looks unlikely to be achieved, although there are hopes that poor farmers will benefit from higher food prices. Conscious of the widening divisions of wealth between rich and poor, and between rural and urban communities, Thailand has produced regional MDG Reports for three provinces, a rare example of the potential of decentralised policymaking based on MDGs.
As the national MDG progress report notes, people in the hills of the north and in the three Muslim majority provinces in the south bordering Malaysia tend to be marginalised. Also, Thailand lags in MDG 3 (gender equality) due to the exceptionally low number of women in politics and in government employment. At the household level as well the traditional status of women in Thai culture is being exposed by evidence that domestic and sexual violence is far more common than previously assumed.
A most unusual feature of the generally positive progress towards the MDGs has been the influence of King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, through his advocacy of a sufficiency economy. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, the concept seeks to overcome the downside of globalisation through priority for sufficiency of human needs rather than inequality and excess. The Thai King is held in high regard among his people. While his authority is informal, he has traditionally played a stabilising role in Thai politics. His practical contribution to his people over 60 years was internationally recognized in 2006 by a UNDP human development award.
Health and HIV /AIDS in Thailand
Thailand has also done unexpectedly well to achieve near universal access to safe water and sanitation due to well-financed government programs. Health indicators have improved accordingly with rates of child and maternal mortality edging down towards those experienced in richer countries.
The quality of health services partly explains Thailand's high profile success in the fight against HIV/AIDS. By 1991 the heterosexual outbreak of AIDS in Thailand had become a national crisis. However, the prime minister at the time, Anand Panyarachun, assumed personal responsibility and instructed all cabinet ministers to develop AIDS plans for their sectors. By 1996, the AIDS budget amounted to US$90 million. A mass media campaign promoted condom use and the government relaxed its intolerance of the brothel industry and favoured enforcement of the use of condoms. Senator Mechai Viravaidya, nicknamed Mr Condom, established the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), which implemented a system of educational networking and condom distribution to the rural population.
Thailand has brought down the adult HIV prevalence rate from a peak of over 4% to 0.84%, with new annual infections falling by a factor of ten. Of 546,000 people living with HIV towards the end of 2007, over 133,000 now receive anti-retroviral drugs, about 85% of the total in need, a proportion achieved by only two other developing countries. This success towards universal access to treatment and care is possible in part because Thailand has been prepared to exploit concessions in patent laws laid down by the World Trade Organisation enabling generic alternatives to be produced domestically.
Apart from the acknowledged risk of complacency, the blemish on this record is Thailand’s neglect of other high risk groups, especially injecting drug users (IDUs), men having sex with men and migrant workers. Antipathy towards IDUs especially has led to their exclusion from prevention and treatment programmes and prevalence within that group remains over 30%. Migrant numbers may be as high as two million and Thailand cannot aspire to the global goal of universal access by 2010 until it protects these marginalized groups.
Climate Change in Thailand
The potential impact of climate change in Thailand has attracted relatively little debate. For example, the Mekong River basin is central to the country’s agriculture and fisheries production but will be susceptible to changing rainfall patterns as well as the melting Himalayan glaciers. The worst floods in 100 years were experienced in the Mekong region in 2008. Dengue fever is an increasing problem, though it is so far attributed more to urban population growth than rising temperatures.
The global food crisis has thrust Thailand into the limelight as the world’s largest exporter of rice. Given that the crop is already grown at the limits of its potential yield, the prospect of climate change is a deepening concern. Bangkok itself is on the front line against the threat of rising sea levels – each year the City sinks by several centimetres whilst the adjacent coastline retreats by 5-20 metres. The risk of storm surges also rises with temperature. The tsunami tragedy of 2004 demonstrated how the clearance of about half of Thailand’s natural protection of mangrove forests along the coastline has removed a crucial defence against the ocean.
The OneWorld Thailand Guide was first published in October 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Kavitha Nallathambi
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| Thailand, harnessing globalization © MAG / Changemakers.net |
Thailand has therefore set a range of more demanding targets, dubbed "MDG plus". These goals include the aim to reduce poverty to 4% by 2009 looks unlikely to be achieved, although there are hopes that poor farmers will benefit from higher food prices. Conscious of the widening divisions of wealth between rich and poor, and between rural and urban communities, Thailand has produced regional MDG Reports for three provinces, a rare example of the potential of decentralised policymaking based on MDGs.
As the national MDG progress report notes, people in the hills of the north and in the three Muslim majority provinces in the south bordering Malaysia tend to be marginalised. Also, Thailand lags in MDG 3 (gender equality) due to the exceptionally low number of women in politics and in government employment. At the household level as well the traditional status of women in Thai culture is being exposed by evidence that domestic and sexual violence is far more common than previously assumed.
A most unusual feature of the generally positive progress towards the MDGs has been the influence of King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, through his advocacy of a sufficiency economy. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, the concept seeks to overcome the downside of globalisation through priority for sufficiency of human needs rather than inequality and excess. The Thai King is held in high regard among his people. While his authority is informal, he has traditionally played a stabilising role in Thai politics. His practical contribution to his people over 60 years was internationally recognized in 2006 by a UNDP human development award.
Health and HIV /AIDS in Thailand
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| Thai children © Kris Herbst / Changemakers.net |
The quality of health services partly explains Thailand's high profile success in the fight against HIV/AIDS. By 1991 the heterosexual outbreak of AIDS in Thailand had become a national crisis. However, the prime minister at the time, Anand Panyarachun, assumed personal responsibility and instructed all cabinet ministers to develop AIDS plans for their sectors. By 1996, the AIDS budget amounted to US$90 million. A mass media campaign promoted condom use and the government relaxed its intolerance of the brothel industry and favoured enforcement of the use of condoms. Senator Mechai Viravaidya, nicknamed Mr Condom, established the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), which implemented a system of educational networking and condom distribution to the rural population.
Thailand has brought down the adult HIV prevalence rate from a peak of over 4% to 0.84%, with new annual infections falling by a factor of ten. Of 546,000 people living with HIV towards the end of 2007, over 133,000 now receive anti-retroviral drugs, about 85% of the total in need, a proportion achieved by only two other developing countries. This success towards universal access to treatment and care is possible in part because Thailand has been prepared to exploit concessions in patent laws laid down by the World Trade Organisation enabling generic alternatives to be produced domestically.
Apart from the acknowledged risk of complacency, the blemish on this record is Thailand’s neglect of other high risk groups, especially injecting drug users (IDUs), men having sex with men and migrant workers. Antipathy towards IDUs especially has led to their exclusion from prevention and treatment programmes and prevalence within that group remains over 30%. Migrant numbers may be as high as two million and Thailand cannot aspire to the global goal of universal access by 2010 until it protects these marginalized groups.
Climate Change in Thailand
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| Pak Mool Dam © Peter Charlesworth © People & the Planet |
The global food crisis has thrust Thailand into the limelight as the world’s largest exporter of rice. Given that the crop is already grown at the limits of its potential yield, the prospect of climate change is a deepening concern. Bangkok itself is on the front line against the threat of rising sea levels – each year the City sinks by several centimetres whilst the adjacent coastline retreats by 5-20 metres. The risk of storm surges also rises with temperature. The tsunami tragedy of 2004 demonstrated how the clearance of about half of Thailand’s natural protection of mangrove forests along the coastline has removed a crucial defence against the ocean.
The OneWorld Thailand Guide was first published in October 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Kavitha Nallathambi
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