The World Health Organisation estimates that 6.8 million people out of the estimated 38.6 million people with HIV need anti-retroviral treatment - but only 1.66 million, or 24 per cent, of those in need, are getting the powerful ART drugs. The World Bank report, co-authored by the Thai Public Health Ministry, says Thailand is providing this treatment for 78,000 Aids patients, more than 90 per cent of those who need it. It may be true that new types of anti-retroviral drugs, particularly patented ones developed by multinational pharmaceutical giants, will remain beyond the reach of most patients in developing countries. But there are much cheaper generic regimens that are currently available, many of which have proved to be as effective as much more expensive drugs. Thailand's achievement is helped in no small part by its ability to produce an affordable anti-retroviral therapy or an anti-HIV cocktail that costs as little as Bt1,200 per month, as opposed to the equivalent of Bt20,000 per month in many other developing countries. In rich industrialised countries, typical anti-HIV drugs cost the equivalent of Bt30,000 to Bt40,000 per month.

Indeed, Thailand's manufacturing capability when it comes to anti-retroviral drugs can be expanded to provide affordable Aids drugs to those in need in other developing countries around the world.

Since 2003, the Public Health Ministry has taken it upon itself to provide ART to all patients who need it, provided that their symptoms meet the medical criteria for treatment. This has involved a campaign to change the attitude of healthcare professionals from regarding Aids patients as imminently fatal cases to seeing them as people who require long-term healthcare. It used to be that people infected with Aids were seen as lost causes and that it would be wasteful to expend time, money and effort in developing medications and providing treatment for people who were about to die. Thailand's public health system has always been oriented towards the provision of equal access to healthcare as part of an effort to promote social justice. This approach to healthcare policy - based on traditional concepts of the importance of having a social conscience that have been instilled in successive generations of healthcare professionals - has provided a robust defence against the free market approach, which seeks to maximise profits.

Such a strong tradition that puts healthcare at the service of the people explains why Thailand, a middle-income developing country, has been successful in its management of public health over the years. Such achievements have led to the ongoing ambitious undertaking that seeks to put in place a truly universal scheme that will cover all citizens. The country's campaign against HIV/Aids is part of this grand project.

Thanks to Thailand's success in stemming the spread of HIV/Aids in the early 1990s through well-thought out public awareness campaigns and prevention programmes that put a special emphasis on removing the stigma attached to the disease, the country managed to avert the potentially devastating impact of this scourge on mankind.

Thailand has already been sharing the lessons learned from its achievements with developing countries in Asia and Africa in coordination with the World Health Organisation, the UN Development Programme, and other relevant international bodies. But Thailand must not rest on its laurels. It should step up its efforts to combat HIV/Aids, which continues to be a serious threat, and indeed other healthcare challenges through innovation and wise policy choices for the benefit of its own citizens. If the lessons we have learned in the course of tackling our own problems prove to be beneficial to others, that will be doubly rewarding.