Page 36 - The Power to Change Anything

Find Vital Behaviors 25

lay in making the public aware of the threat. The experts who
were advising Wiwat (people who had thought about the trans-
mission problem but who hadn’t actually solved it) argued that
diseases thrive in ignorance; therefore, you have to spread the
word.
With this idea in mind, when Dr. Wiwat accepted a position
with Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, specializing in vene-
real diseases, he approached the task of informing an ignorant
public in much the same way corporate executives try to improve
quality, customer service, or teamwork. Wiwat’s team distributed
posters. They held education sessions. They convinced celebri-
ties to broadcast television and radio spots.
Despite their best efforts, Wiwat and his teammates failed.
After a couple of exhausting, hectic, and expensive years, Thai
researchers found that they had accomplished nothing. The
problem had actually grown far worse. That’s when Wiwat
threw out the handbook. Rather than accepting the word of
people who had never actually succeeded in eliminating the
rapid transmission of the disease, Dr. Wiwat decided to con-
duct a more intensive search for a strategy. He started by por-
ing over data about the transmission cycle of AIDS through
Thailand.
It didn’t take Wiwat long to realize that 97 percent of all
new HIV infections came from heterosexual contact with sex
workers. This statistic might seem a bit odd until you learn
that Thailand has over 150,000 sex workers—about one for
every 150 adult men. Induced by low prices and a permis-
sive culture, the vast majority of Thai men periodically visit
brothels.
This statistic gave Dr. Wiwat the focus he needed. If con-
tact with sex workers was causing the pandemic, he had no
choice but to focus his attention there—despite the fact that
the government refused to admit that the massive sex-trade
industry even existed. With over a million HIV infections in
Thailand, Wiwat decided the time for political sensitivity and