Thai “Condom King” Receives Gates Award for Global Health
Established in 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates Award for Global Health recognizes organizations that have made major and lasting contributions to the field of global health. The award is administered by the Global Health Council, and presented at its annual international conference in Washington. A jury of international public health experts selects the award recipient based on leadership, record of achievement, innovation in program design, program stability and sustainability, collaboration with others, and impact across geographic and organizational boundaries. The prize consists of an award sculpture and $1 million. This year, almost 100 organizations were nominated for the award.
Mechai Viravaidya was recognised by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today with a $1 million award for confronting “taboo subjects like sex and HIV/AIDS directly in order to save lives,” the foundation said.
Mechai and Population Development Association worked closely with the Thai government to develop and implement a groundbreaking national HIV prevention program that led to a dramatic reduction in new HIV infections in Thailand, from 143,000 in 1991 to 21,000 in 2003. Because of his creative and often humorous approaches to promoting condom use, Mechai is known as Thailand’s “Condom King” and the generic word for the love glove in Thailand is “Mechai.”
To eccentrically prove his points, Mr. Viravaidya has pulled many stunts, including posing for cameras while drinking the same glass of water as an H.I.V.-positive person (to prove it’s not transmitted that way); offering free vasectomies at his restaurants; and bringing fistfuls of condoms to World Bank talks. In addition the PDA has taken a bold and direct approach in their condom campaign with slogans like, "SLIP IT ON, BEFORE YOU SLIP IT IN," on a key tag with a free condom and a picture post card with a heart shaped ring of condoms saying, "NO GLOVE, NO LOVE," etc. And of course, in 'Cabbages and Condoms' restaurants providing condoms instead of dinner mints and condoms instead of chocolates on pillows in the resorts.
Congrats Mr Mechai!! A well deserved award.
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