Population and Community Development Association
[1] In the early 1970s, Viravaidya was the Minister of Industry but became frustrated with the government's inability to implement a national family planning policy.
[3] It has operated on the belief that “local people are best suited to shape and sustain their own development.”[5] Most of its programs empower communities on a micro level, utilizing a “bottom up” approach.
[5] Initially, the PDA sought to reduce population growth by focusing on efforts both to combat child mortality and to encourage family planning.
To target the remaining 80% of the country, the PDA invested in multiple initiatives - including the popularization of free condoms, increased access to birth control, incentives for women to not become pregnant, and slogans to encourage smaller families.
The original mission of the Population and Community Association was to supplement the efforts of the Thai government to reduce poverty by promoting family planning.
Some of these activities include: health care, HIV/AIDS services and awareness, access to clean water resources, reliable means of income, environmental conservation, gender equality, youth education and services, democratic engagement, and small-scale business initiatives, including village owned banks providing micro-credit loans.
[6] Mechai Viravaidya founded the Population and Community Development Association in 1974, at which time it was named the Community-Based Family Planning Service.
The Population and Community Development Association was established in 1976 as a response to the need for a diversified approach to poverty reduction in Thailand.
In the past, funds from these separate businesses have accounted for as much as 70% of required financing to maintain existing PDA activity.
Viravaidya largely attributes the success of the PDA in reducing population growth in Thailand to the strong cooperation between the non-profit sector and the government.
Viravaidya was the secretary-general in the National Family Planning Association of Thailand, which worked to implement the government created policy.
However, its impact was limited and Virvaidya went on to form the organization Community-Based Family Planning Service (CBFPS) in 1974, which later became incorporated under the broader PDA.
[9] Furthermore, the reduction in Thailand's population growth rate has largely been aided by the government's efforts to establish and maintain a national family planning policy.
This statistic could be attributed to Thai women's restricted access to contraceptives, resources/services, and basic information regarding family planning.
The solution was a loan of one million baht from International Pregnancy Advisory Service (IPAS) endorsing a separate legal entity, a comprehensive clinic, from the PDA.
The PDA is committed to making termination procedures, counseling, information, and contraceptives widely accessible and affordable for everyone, especially women.
Unlike the common stigmatized association of AIDS with homosexual communities, HIV/AIDS in developing nations is also a heterosexual problem.
Thailand identified six main high-risk groups for contracting HIV/AID: homosexuals, injecting drug users (IUDs), sex workers, individuals receiving blood transfusions, other heterosexuals, and infants whose mothers are HIV carriers.
In 1997, UNAIDS (United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) released the following statistics:[13] The PDA released additionally alarming statistics about the spread of HIV and the growing prevalence of AIDS in Thailand:[12] the percentage of HIV positives in the Thai population was at 4% in December 1987 and by September 1988 had risen to 43% (a span of nine months) The Thai government did not address the AIDS epidemic.
[12] Mechai Viravaidya believed that the government's lack of influence and assistance in the AIDS epidemic within Thailand required action by someone.
[2] The PDA believes that the affected population group is fully capable of advocating for themselves if given the enabling resources and support by all sectors of Thai society.
The PDA constructed five target groups: government officials, community leaders, youths, commercial sex workers, and women.
The underlying initiative of the educational awareness launch was to enable and empower the target groups to advocate behavioral changes in Thailand to avoid infecting the entire population.
From this standpoint, the PDA adopts an advocate model for its fight against HIV/AIDS, thereby encouraging empowerment for at risk individuals to secure their own health through positive sexual behaviors and practices.
[12] Viravaidya and the PDA turned to the Royal Thai Army for support where the government was unwilling and unable in their HIV/AIDS campaign.
These representatives then relay the training back to their own companies and provide resources and information to HIV positive employees.
These buses constantly play clips about education, prevention, and agency for HIV/AIDS – thereby eliminating any barriers of communication for illiteracy and low socio-economic individuals.
Parents and teachers do not object to integrating condoms and HIV/AIDS instruction into all levels of education, since such programs are saving lives.
A decreasing population growth rate creates a work force that must provide for fewer dependents at both ends of the age spectrum.
[2][11] The common slogan for battling population growth rate is, “delay the first, postpone the second and prevent the third.” [11] The Community-Based Incentive Thailand (CBIT) PDA received some criticism in its early stages, mainly from government institutions.
