U.N. High Commissioner calls on Thai Government to address spread of HIV in refugee camps along Thai-Myanmar border

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Sep 1 2006

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterrez on Wednesday during a four-day trip to Thailand called on Thailand's government to address the spread of HIV within refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, according to Thailand's deputy government spokesperson Chalermchai Mahakitsiri, AFP/Today Online reports.

Guterrez met with Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at the government house in Bangkok after visiting the Than Him refugee camp in Thailand's western Ratchaburi province.

About 10,000 ethnic Karen who fled from Myanmar inhabit the camp (AFP/Today Online, 8/30).

Overall, about 140,000 refugees, mostly Karen, live in nine camps near the Thai-Myanmar border (Shah, Irrawaddy, 8/30).

"The U.N. High Commissioner expressed his concern over the spread of AIDS in camps which house Myanmar ethnic displaced person[s] in both Ratchaburi and Tak provinces," Chalermchai said (AFP/Today Online, 8/30).

He did not provide further information about the meeting except to say that Thaksin has "ordered the Public Health Ministry to send doctors" to address the situation (Associated Press, 8/30).

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.