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In 1995, AsiaWeek magazine published the following profile of Mechai Viravaidya, a member of PSI's Board of Directors, as one of "Twenty Great Asians" of the 20th century. Other Asians profiled included democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. Below is the full article.
Mechai Viravaidya trained as an economist. But instead of juggling statistics, he ended up juggling condoms. He blew them up like balloons to popularize them among villagers. He even sent one to U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He roamed Bangkok's red-light districts, handing out contraceptives to prostitutes and their clients. So identified is Mechai's name with the prophylactics in Thailand that a "mechai" is a what people ask for when they want a condom.
The 54-year-old Thai social activist is proud to be known as "Mr. Condom." For two decades he was the driving force behind a grassroots population-control program that is considered one of the most successful anywhere. He has led a vigorous campaign against AIDS, and worked to improve the lives of Thailand's rural poor. In recognition of these achievements, he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for public service last year.
Mechai was drawn to social action by his parents. His Scottish mother and Thai father were both dedicated physicians. When he returned home in the mid-1960s with a degree in economics from Australia, his mother said to him: "You got an education not because you are bright, but because we had the money. If people like you work for profit, who is going to work for the poor?"
Mechai's first job was with the government's national planning agency. When he was sent up-country to report on development programs, he noticed that in every village he visited, children abounded. He resolved to do something to control Thailand's population, which was then growing at an annual rate of 3.2%. He knew that women would not improve their lives, children would not be educated, the country would not develop, unless the growth rate was checked. But the government lacked funds to tackle the problem. So in 1973 Mechai quit his job to develop a system "where the people had a role" in forging the solutions.
A year later he founded the Population and Community Development Association, a non-profit group that spread the message of birth control in the hinterlands. Mechai is a believer in humorous, attention-getting slogans. He loaned "family-planning buffaloes" for plowing at half the usual rate to farmers who adopted birth control. In one district he introduced "family-planning hogs" whose stud services were available free to those practicing contraception.
He used a similar tack in cities. Realizing that most Thais were reluctant to bring up the subject of birth control when visiting doctors, Mechai opened a vegetable stand in Bangkok that also sold condoms. He called it "Cabbages and Condoms." The idea appealed to the traditional Thai sense of sanook, or playfulness. Later he set up "Cabbages and Condoms" restaurant that promoted both vegetarianism and family planning. It featured a "Vasectomy Bar" where customers were entitled to a free drink if they go a vasectomy at the association's clinic next door.
By 1978, Mechai's spirited campaigns had become so successful that the government adopted his sanook approach to family planning. Today Thailand's population growth remains at its 1991 level of a little more than 1%, and is a model for other developing countries.
But just when population growth started to level off, the specter of AIDS surfaced. The government refused to acknowledge the extent of the problem until Mechai and other health workers raised the issue in lectures, public speeches and interviews. In 1991, six years after Thailand's first full-blown AIDS case came to light, the government appointed Mechai as minister in charge of tourism, information and the national AIDS program.
He mobilized a nationwide network of volunteers who distributed cards, audio cassettes and videos containing information about AIDS, and he defended the rights of AIDS patients by opposing mandatory blood tests. In addition, he launched the Thai Business Initiative in Rural Development, or T-BIRD, a project aimed at arresting the migration of poor villagers, particularly women, to urban areas, where prostitution is rife.
His campaign to promote the use of condoms has helped to significantly reduce sexually transmitted diseases, thereby preventing the spread of AIDS. But the battle is far from won. The World Health Organization estimates that almost 20 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Thailand has recorded more than 13,000 cases of AIDS since 1979. The virus is spreading fastest in South and Southeast Asia, says WHO. Since 1993, HIV infections in the region double to 3 million.
Mechai believes that Asia has yet to feel the full force of the pandemic. He predicts that AIDS will soon be more prevalent here that in Africa, where an estimated 11 million people are HIV carriers. "Thailand is going to be hurt," says Mechai, but because the country has an advanced AIDS-awareness program, "it won't be hurt as badly as India and Pakistan."
Now out of government, he is campaigning to involve businesses in rural development. "The move in the next decade," he says, "will be towards responsible business." After all these years, Mechai is still carrying out his mother's wishes. | 