HIV/AIDS Practices / Others
1. Intensive International Training Course on the Management of Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Program for National and Local Program Managers
Without Antiretrviral Treatment (ART), far greater numbers of AIDS patients would die every year. Many countries have gradually scaled up ART services : achieving wider converage of such services has been recognized to improve health outcomes, quality of life and enable affected individuals to lead productive life. The Thai MOPH has had more that a decade of experience in both clinical implementation and service management of ART. And it is very willing to share this with other countries.
A five-day training course in Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) programs, for national and local program managers, is designed to provide the participants with an understanding of the key managerial aspects related to ART services. These include : program initiation and development, ART regimens, procurement and distribution of drugs, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) programs, adherence and surveillance, monitoring and evaluation. Participants will draw up their ideas in an ‘ART work plan’.
2. International Training Course on STI/HIV Laboratory Diagnosis
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a public health problem of major
significance in most parts of the worlds. Thailand is one of the leading countries in this
region which has implemented national STIs prevention and control effectively for more
than 40 years. The STIs Cluster, formerly known as STD Division of the Department of
Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, has therefore accumulated experience and
expertise in the laboratory diagnosis of the STIs and HIV, in addition to those of innovative
intervetions and program implementation which has placed Thailand’s effort in the
prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and STIs in the forefront were achievements are
concerned. Short and medium term international training courses were designed and have
been conducted regularly by the experienced resource persons who are staff from within the
Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and teaching universities since 1977 to share knowledge
and expertise as well as strengthen capacity of laboratory technicians and related medical
staff from countries within the Asia region and other regions.
For Two-week long training course, participants are designed to achieve knowledge and
updated skills of major STIs, appropriate laboratory testing techniques and correct
diagnosis. In addition, they will increase capacity and skills of laboratory technicians and
medical staff to correct understanding in STIs/HIV laboratory diagnosis for their future
application at their workplace and to set up HIV/STIs networks for similar standard of
practice and exchange information in diagnosis.
3. International Training Course on Management of Long - Term Adherence to ART
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is the most common therapy using an
antiretroviral drug which can reduce viral load and mortality rate of AIDS cases.
Medication adherence is the vitally necessary in the long-term treatment to reduce HIV and
increase immunity in order to help patient improve quality life for long living. Many factors
are necessary and efficient treatment and care with the antiretroviral drug, such as setting up
access to service system, the referral treatment system, ARV of standard resistance, to have
a local manufactured ARVs, to follow up on complications of drug and drug resistance. The
most important factor is to follow up the good long-term adherence to achieve of ARV
therapy, reduce budget to solve the drug resistance problems in the future.
A five-day training course on Management of Long - Term Adherence to ART, is
designed to give more knowledge and understanding about the principles and concepts of
Long-Term Adherence and to set up strategies, methodology including monitoring and
evaluation of Long – Term Adherence. The contents included country presentation, lecture,
case study, discussion and field study.
4. International Training Course on Comprehensive Pediatric HIV/AIDS Care
Management
Since HIV/AIDS epidemic, children around the world have been directly and indirectly
affected by this disease. UNAIDS (2009) had reported that about hundreds of thousands of
children across the world become infected with HIV every year. Once children are infected
with HIV, they experience with tremendous life threatening and suffering conditions caused
by the disease itself as well as their growth and development. HIV infected children are
more likely to progress to full-blown AIDS quicker than adult. They are also highly
vulnerable to opportunistic infections and often respond poorly to immunization and
treatment for other common childhood illnesses. As a result, many of them have a greater
chance of life-threatening illness and death, unless they can successfully be provided with
comprehensive treatment and care.
For 5 days long training course, participants are designed to provide knowledge on
comprehensive pediatric HIV/AIDS care management. Also they will share experience of
successful multidisciplinary Thailand pediatric HIV/AIDS care team at regional and local
levels in providing comprehensive pediatric HIV/AIDS care and management. Moreover,
participants will develop action plan for comprehensive pediatric HIV/AIDS care services
in their setting using lesson learned from the training. Then they will develop
multidisciplinary pediatric HIV/AIDS care team in their setting. Teaching methods used in
this course are based on lecture, discussion, case based discussion, experience sharing, brain
storming, role play, group work, after action review (AAR), and site visit.
5. International Training Course on STIs Case Management Skills
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a common and serious public health problem
worldwide. Most widely known STIs are gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV. In addition, there
are more than 20 other known STIs which can cause acute illness, long-term disability and
even death, with severe medical and psychological consequences. Many of the infections
are curable with accurate, early diagnosis and effective treatment. Failure to diagnose and
treat STIs at an early stage may result in serious complications and sequelae which include,
pelvic inflammatory diseases, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, foetal wastage stillbirths, and
neonatal and childhood infections and HIV/AIDS. Such constraints and barriers as lack of
information, diagnosis and treatment skills and facilities, self-treatment by clients,
asymptomatic infections, stigma, etc, in many countries also add to difficulties in managing
and improving the STIs program.
A five-day training course on STIs Case Management Skills, participants will learn of the
symptoms, manifestation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of STIs and other related
aspects including VCT and condom promotion. In addition to the classroom lectures and
presentation, observations of the STIs clinic service and practical sessions with models are
also arranged for improving the skills in case management. A small number of participants
provided excellent opportunity for discussion and Q&A to clarify issues.
6. International Training Course on Prevention of HIV and STIs through Sexual
Transmission in Special Target Population Groups
After two decades, HIV and AIDS remains to be one of the global dynamic epidemics
requiring careful, timely and target specific responses by countries around the world.
Slacking in programs and neglecting of any high at risk population groups can equate to
lose any gains previously accomplished through hard work of preventive and care
interventions. Therefore, it’s important that national HIV prevention program is able to
reach the people most at risk of the infection, particularly young people, men who have sex
with men, sex workers and their clients to deter the upward and/or hard-to-decline trends in
infection rates.
A curriculum for a five days training course has been developed to provide an
knowledge update on effective interventions in prevention of sexually transmitted HIV
and STIs among the selected target populations including sex workers, youth and MSM.
Participants will learn from classroom lectures, discussion, sharing of experiences,
participating in exercises and field visits. Resource persons are experts who have created
successful interventions and extensive experiences in planning and implementing the HIV
and STIs program in Thailand and Asia.
7. TCDC Training Course on Programme Management of Prevention of Mother to
Child HIV Transmission
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) was one of the priority
areas for discussion at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS
which took place in June 2001. The commitment of the meeting is the goal of reducing the
number of children acquiring HIV through mother-to-child transmission by 20% in the year
2005 and by 50% in 2010. At this historic meeting, over 180 member states signed the
declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS. These targets which have been labeled by some
people as being rather ambitious are in fact achievable. For this to happen, however,
countries do need to begin to scale up their activities aimed at preventing and stopping
mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This is not only going to need money and strong
political will, but will in each country among many other things, need a core group of
various backgrounds who can then be able to shake things up at regional and country level
so that effective and locally feasible scaling up of the PMTCT of HIV can happen.
For 8 days long training course, it aims to make available Thailand's experience in social
development with emphasis on women and children's issues to countries in Asia and the
Pacific. This experience is passed on through regular training courses, study visits and
follow-up exchange visits conducted in cooperation with government agencies and NGOs.
Not only has this experience created an opportunity for countries in the region to learn from
Thailand and apply the knowledge and expertise gained in implementing similar projects in
their own countries, but also for Thailand to learn and benefit from this regional technical
cooperation.