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Thai testing campaign suggests how local cultures can influence testing behaviour
Gus Cairns, 2015-09-17 08:40:00
A campaign to encourage Thai gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) to test at least once a year for HIV has had modest success, a study presented at the Eighth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2015) in July in Vancouver reveals, with repeat testing rates increasing slightly over the study period.
However, rates of re-testing are, at about 25% within a year, far below the 90% recommended by the Thai Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).
One of the most intriguing aspects of this study is that testing was far more likely around men’s birthdays and during festival periods. While there has been no qualitative work to ask why, researchers suggested that Thai Buddhist ideas about performing 'good deeds' on birthdays could be capitalised on to increase testing rates.
Source:1
