Summary

PDA’s innovative program, which included the non-physician, community-based distribution of oral contraceptives and condoms, as well as a clinic referral service, contributed significantly to the decrease of Thailand’s annual population growth rate from 3.3% in the 1970s to 0.6% in 2005.

Key program components

PDA utilized humor and a common sense approach, which resonated in local communities. PDA also partnered with local government agencies to reach out to rural communities beyond the local government's ability to serve. Through the recruitment of volunteers, including over 320,000 rural school teachers, PDA was able to leverage its work and expand the program into most of rural Thailand.

As highlighted in the award-winning film by George Washington University, "The Cheerful Revolution," a major indicator of the success of PDA's initiatives was that many of them were later adopted by the governments of many countries, including Thailand.

PDA also trained government officers, district officers, governors, and community leaders, such as monks, to inform the wider community about AIDS. Training was organized for employees of private companies to make them aware of the dangers and to de-stigmatize the disease.

In addition to health education, PDA engages in social marketing of condoms, as well as "Condom Nights" and "Miss Anti-AIDS Beauty Pageants" in the most popular sex districts of Bangkok. PDA remains involved in health care through family planning clinics in Bangkok and three provincial cities, as well as mobile health vans which further extend basic health care, x-rays, school, and industrial health. By charging fees significantly lower than private clinics, the program has attracted a wide client base and has become self-sufficient. PDA is responsible for 30% of the total number of vasectomies in Thailand and 80% of those occurring within Bangkok.