Students get the condom picture

But these "paparazzi" - which is what they call themselves - are anything but the intrusive type, following famous people everywhere and taking photographs. Instead, they watch out for atrisk highschool students and then approach them to warn of the dangers of unprotected sex.

"We need people with a duty to inform students of and alert them to the use of condoms when they have sex," says Panita Meechana, who pio¬neered a project which is called Aids Paparazzi at Mathayom Prachaniwet School in Bangkok.

What these youthful activists do is to find students who are having a sexual rela¬tionship or are planning to. They discretely approach them and provide information about using condoms.

"It is not so difficult to know about students who are already having sex with their boyfriends or girlfriends because my school is a small place," Panita says.

She says many students at her school have unprotected sex when young. The youngest couple were in Mathayom 3.

Most couples are not aware of the importance of condoms and are putting themselves at risk of infection from the HIV/Aids virus.

Panita and a friend initiat¬ed the project last year after they joined a programme called AntiAids Academy, organised by the Department of Disease Control.

The programme has trained 104 students from 52 schools across Thailand to have more knowledge and skill in creating HIV/Aids campaigns. Each school was given Bt10,000 in funding.

Aids Paparazzi has held many activities to fight against HIV/Aids in school, such as distrib¬uting condoms and persuading students in relationships to use condoms.

Panita says it is dif¬ficult to tell students directly about using condoms. "We have to make them trust us first by inviting them to join our group and then we organise a group discussion to talk about the risks and prevention of HIV/Aids infection. After that, they change their behaviour and ask for condoms from us."

A big problem for the group has been persuading students to join its activities. It collabo¬rated with the school's To Be Number One project to initiate events such as concerts where the message can be spread.

"At the same time as playing music in the hall, we inform students about HIV/Aids pre¬vention. We have received a lot of good feedback from students," says Panita.

Other events organised by Aids Paparazzi included a trip to Wat Phrabatnampu (known as the Aids Temple), visiting people living with the disease and a young leader camp where health experts gave advice.

Mathayom Prachaniwet School now has more than 40 students involved in Aids Paparazzi. However, there are many obstacles to raising awareness of HIV/Aids pre¬vention among university students.

Kittisak Jansak, leader of a group for HIV/Aids prevention at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in Bangkok, says most students are not interest¬ed in joining activities that do not affect their educational record.

Many university students are unclear about the way to use condoms or other techni¬cal information.

"Some know how to protect themselves from HIV/Aids infection, but I was surprised when some told me that they do not use condoms during sex. Moreover, they do not know about the size of condom they will use," says Kittisak.

"We have to work hard and continue our job step by step to alert them to use con¬doms," he adds.

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation