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dandaman6007
dandaman6007Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 9:45:00 AM EDT
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In Thailand, condoms are sold on rafts in small villages, in mini-bars, and passed out by policemen, as well as blessed by priests. Yes, thats right. Thailand's "Mr. Condom," Mechai Viravaidya, has done amazing work since the 1970's creating and implementing simple but genius strategies for family planning. He places enormous value on action and impact, creating programs that WORK. The result of his programs? average family size declined from 7 children to 1.5 children, and HIV infections declined by 90%.
He spoke at at TEDx event in New York last month talking about the success of his programs and solutions. This is a must watch:
When I saw this, I thought yes, yes, yes! From the Coca-Cola model of partnering with locals for condom distribution to having condoms blessed by priests to going to the military to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. This guy is absolutely brilliant, and my new hero.We didn't have a strong government, we didn't have a lot of doctors, but its everyones job to change attitude and behavior -Mechai Viravaidya
We in the United States have a lot to learn from Thailand. Their challenge was as big as ours - fear of condoms, government in denial, etc, - and added to that was the fact that Thailand was a very poor country. If THEY can do this, so can we.
My only question is...why isn't this happening everywhere?
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This is a stellar presentation...and this program is a fascinating and compelling community-based model for condom distribution.