Thai Foundation Receives First Installment of $14 Million Global Fund Grant

The Raks Thai Foundation, an AIDS foundation in Thailand, yesterday received the first installment of a grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to fight AIDS in the country, the Associated Press reports. The foundation received $5 million as part of a two-year, $14 million grant for the organization's work with five other nongovernmental organizations and the Ministry of Public Health to curb the spread of HIV in Thailand, according to Promboon Panitchpakdi, executive director of the foundation. The Raks Thai Foundation plans to use the funds to educate and improve health care for migrant workers in the fishing industry -- most of whom are from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- in 22 coastal provinces nationwide and for factory and plantation workers in two provinces in the northern region of Thailand. Approximately 3% to 9% of fishermen in port communities in Thailand are HIV-positive, according to the foundation. The foundation also plans to use grant money to review and recommend policy adjustments for the government's migrant worker policies (Associated Press, 6/25). Thai government officials and officials from the fund last month signed grant agreements totaling $38 million over two years for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis programs in the country (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/20).