HIV/AIDS Vulnerability and Risk Reduction among Ethnic Minority Groups through Communication Strategies in the Greater Mekong Subregion

ADB Regional Technical Assistance (RETA 6247) was financed by the Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, with parallel financing from UNESCO. This RETA 6247 was, in part, a continuation of the previous RETA (RETA 6083, ICT and Preventive Education in the Cross-border Areas of the Greater Mekong Sub-region). However, it also built and expanded on the lessons identified from the previous project. The earlier RETA, jointly carried out by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNESCO and SEAMEO, was implemented during the period April 2003 to September 2004. Under it, ADB/UNESCO pioneered the use of linguistically and culturally appropriate materials in the form of radio soap operas (dramas) for transmitting HIV/AIDS, drug and trafficking prevention information to highly vulnerable ethnic minority populations often living in remote areas in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). It further established the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for mapping, tracking and monitoring the spread of HIV/AIDS in Thailand, as well initiating the UNESCO-based Clearing House (CH) on Preventive HIV/AIDS education in the GMS.