Thailand is recording between 8,000 and 9,000 new HIV infections a year, more than eight times the target of under 1,000 annual cases needed for the country to end AIDS as a public health problem by 2030. The rate has held steady for the past five years, and infections are now rising among young people aged 15 to 24, according to the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre.
Associate Professor Dr Opass Putcharoen, deputy director of the centre, described the trend as close to critical if it continues.
He said other sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia, are also increasing, again concentrated among younger people. Unprotected sex remains the main route of HIV transmission.
Why HIV infections remain high in Thailand
The Department of Disease Control links the persistently high rate to unsafe sexual practices rather than a lack of access to testing or treatment. Unsafe sex carries five to nine times the risk of HIV infection compared with protected sex, the department said, and a parallel rise in syphilis points to the same pattern.
Dr Virawat Manosuddhi, a department spokesman, said syphilis cases have increased two and a half times since 2018 and nearly tripled among adolescents, which he linked to inconsistent condom use.
Young people aged 15 to 24 account for about 47% of the roughly 9,000 new HIV infections recorded each year, the department said.
Separately, an estimated 50,000 people in Thailand are living with HIV without knowing it. Untreated, HIV typically progresses to AIDS over five to ten years, at which point opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis can follow, making treatment considerably more difficult and more expensive.
With modern antiretroviral treatment, an HIV diagnosis is a manageable long-term condition. It is late diagnosis, rather than the virus itself, that turns it into something more serious, the centre said.
Home HIV self-test kits are available, with a confirmatory test required at a clinic if the result is positive. The Thai Red Cross Anonymous Clinic on Rajdamri Road, Pathum Wan, Bangkok, takes walk-ins Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 3pm, excluding public holidays. No appointment is needed, though online pre-registration shortens the wait.
Mobile clinics are also operating in communities, though Opass said this alone is not enough and that all parties need to keep pushing on testing and prevention.
A preventive option
PrEP is medication taken by people who are HIV negative to prevent infection. The injectable version is given every two months, with a six-monthly option also available, removing the need for a daily tablet.
A negative HIV test is required before starting PrEP, since it is a preventive medication rather than a treatment. Someone who is already HIV positive and takes or is injected with PrEP risks developing drug resistance, which can make future treatment harder, the centre said.
Government campaigns
Free HIV testing is available twice a year through hospitals and health units under Thailand’s universal healthcare scheme, alongside free condoms and self-test kits distributed via the state-run Pao Tang application.
Free PrEP is also provided to people considered at higher risk, including men who have sex with men, serodiscordant couples, sex workers and people who inject drugs, through the National Health Security Office.
A separate scheme, Stand by You, run by Professor Dr Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit of Siriraj Hospital, provides free HIV self-test kits and counselling through the LINE messaging app. Since launching in August 2022, it has reached about 160,000 people nationwide, with more than 30,000 receiving test kits and counselling, two-thirds of them under 30.
From 2025, the National Health Security Board approved Stand by You to provide HIV counselling under Thailand’s Universal Coverage for Health scheme, folding it into the national health system.
Thailand’s push to end AIDS as a public health problem by 2030 is set out in the National Strategy to End AIDS 2017-2030, which underpins the under-1,000 annual infection target.
Contacts:
- Anonymous Clinic, Rajdamri Road, Pathum Wan: 02 251 6711-5, office hours.
- Online pre-registration and service fees: via the AIDSID website.
- Self-test kits: via the Thai Red Cross website.
- Risk assessment and counselling: LINE ID @aidsidanonymous.
The story 50,000 people in Thailand are living with HIV unaware as seen on Thaiger News.
