Once touted as an HIV success story, Thailand is now faced with infection rates in its gay population comparable to those in Africa’s AIDS hot spots. Over the past decade, HIV has spread rapidly among gay men, transgender people and male sex workers in Bangkok to reach epidemic levels, fuelled partly by greater use of illicit party drugs that make people less cautious about sex, experts said. The mostly female health team taking samples seemed incongruous next to the shirtless models circling the party, but the health workers’ presence at the TestBKK event, Thailand’s first mass HIV testing for gays, was sending a powerful message. BANGKOK, Oct 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bare-chested male models strutted through the glitzy ballroom in Bangkok to the beat of house music while dozens of young gay men waited anxiously, working up the nerve to have a blood test.
