March 3, 2008
The Government of Japan is extending support under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects scheme (GGP) to the project "Supporting people suffering from HIV/AIDS in Phitsanulok". H.E. Mr. Hideaki Kobayashi, Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Thailand, and Phrakruu Kosit Thammasoonthon of Suanrombaramee Temple, signed the funding contract on February 29, 2008 at the Suanrombaramee Temple.
While the measures taken in Thailand to control HIV/AIDS are widely viewed as "successful" in reducing the number of new patients, discrimination is still shown by the general public toward HIV infected people, preventing them from coexisting. These patients are often put in a position of social inferiority from one generation to the next.
The Suanrombaramee Temple has been accepting infected people who have no place to go, and has been playing a core role in providing them with opportunities for mental rehabilitation, vocational training, and the cultivation of traditional medicinal herbs, as well as educating the local people about HIV/AIDS.
At the request of the Suanrombaramee Temple, which enjoys great respect in Phitsanulok, the Japanese Government is extending its support to the temple's construction of vocational training facilities and accommodation for infected people. Training is to be conducted on the temple premises. The total assistance is 1,891,600 baht.
Based on this assistance, a society is to be formed in which the local community and the infected people live together in harmony, through the temple’s activities to help the infected people resume their places in the community.
The Government of Japan is willing to continue its support through the GGP scheme toward projects that will help people affected by HIV/AIDS.
