In Thailand, Harvesting Knowledge

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Tun Yo may not have known much about the ways of the world when he first came to work in one of the orange groves here seven years ago. After all, he was just 14 at the time and one of the thousands of Burmese migrants who pour into Thailand every year.

Indeed, even when he got married, chances are he knew little or nothing about family planning or reproductive health. In fact, Tun Yo probably could have cared less.

That, however, is no longer the case. As one of the participants in a project aimed at Burmese male migrants here in Chiang Mai, Tun Yo recently attended a reproductive-health training workshop that has inspired him to discuss birth control methods with his wife. He adds that he has become conscious of sexual hygiene and has learned about how to avoid getting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV and AIDS.

“I think compared to women, men are not interested much in their health,” comments Dr Samphan Kahinthapong, Northern Region director of the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand (PPAT), which runs the project supported by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). “In fact, if men are responsible for their reproductive health, (that) will help both their health and their partner’s.”

It was this thinking that had PPAT undertaking the project that began in June 2009 and ended in March 2011. Aside from offering training workshops that employ some of the migrants themselves as trainers, the project includes mobile clinics that provide contraceptives and treatment, as well as conduct tests for STDs.

PPAT had noted that most of the estimated two million Burmese migrants in Thailand have limited or no access to health services and education. Perhaps as a consequence, it said, the Burmese migrant community suffered from “early or unwanted pregnancies, early marriage, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs including HIV/AIDS), unsafe abortions, and violence against women”.

The project aimed to provide information on sexual and reproductive health to 4,000 people and related services to 1,000 people, particularly male Burmese migrant workers at orange plantations, construction sites and elsewhere here in northern Thailand.

It may have helped that most of these workers are Tai Yai, a Burmese ethnic minority in which gender relations are more equal compared to those in other groups. Yet even then, some men admit to attitudinal changes after taking part in the project.

For instance, they say that they now don’t think of household chores as being solely the burden of women, especially since both men and women work outside of the home.

One 37-year-old female worker also says, “It seemed to be embarrassing to talk about sex with my husband, but with the knowledge he now has, I tell him when I don’t want to have sex because I have my period or when I’m so tired.”

“He doesn’t refuse when I ask him to buy my (sanitary pads),” she adds. “If we were in our home community in Mong Pan (in Shan state, Burma), I don’t think he would buy them. The men there feel so embarrassed even to wash women’s clothes.”

Other male and female Burmese workers say that after undergoing training as part of the project, men seemed to respect and understand the women more. Participants showed more concern about having “quality” family life, they say.

Project officer Benjawan Srivichai also says increased understanding between the sexes is among the changes they have seen so far among the participants. “Males used to monopolise decision-making, but now they listen to each other more,” she says. “We have heard more about men and women being equal. In addition, male and women workers have more access to reproductive-health services, condoms, and contraceptive pills.”

PPAT is thinking of extending the project’s life span, and Dr Samphan says that doing so would enable PPAT to expand and reach out to boys as well, and to address the seeming trend of early pregnancies.

Gender expert Niwat Suwanpattana, an advisor to the Thai Network Coalition on AIDS, suggests that the PPAT project go beyond hygiene and contraception issues and move on to other directions, such as encouraging women to see sex beyond being a mere “duty” to their partners.

For now, migrant workers like Tun Yo are busy using what they learned. Says Tun Yo: “I have never used condoms before, and now I know how to use it and that it is used not only for birth control but also for preventing HIV and other STDs.”

“(My wife and I) are also discussing more about when we should have a baby,” he says, adding that they now realise there are many family planning they could choose from.