OneWorld.net (U.S.)

For over twenty years Mechai Viravaidya, also known as “the condom king,” has been employing innovative means to tackle population growth, poverty, environmental conservation, and sexual health issues in Thailand. On November 4, Mr. Viravaidya, founder and board chairman of the privately funded NGO Population and Community Development Association (PDA), shared his insights and expertise during an engaging lecture at Washington D.C.’s American University, covering topics ranging from prostitution prevention programs to medicinal plant use and condom blowing contests.

The event was organized by the local university chapters of Washington D.C.-based non-profits Project Hope International and OneWorld U.S.

At the heart of Mr. Viravaidya’s work is a commitment to creativity and imagination and, as his motto states, “thinking outside the box and ahead of the curve.” While photos of the cops and rubbers program and mobile vasectomy bus elicited laughs from the audience, the presentation was an eye-opening lesson in the effectiveness of using ingenuity and humor to raise public awareness about serious social problems.

In 1974 Thailand had an annual population growth of 3.3% and an average of 7 children per family, but thanks to programs implemented by Mr. Viravaidya and PDA those figures have been reduced to 0.8% population growth and an average of 1.6 children per family today.

A key component to this success was a focus on grassroots early education and eliminating the stigma and embarrassment often associated with reproductive health and safe sex discussions. By making education fun and easily accessible, and working closely with community leaders and government officials, Mr. Viravaidya was able to reach both rural and urban populations.

But population control is just one part his near inexhaustible crusade on behalf of public health and development needs. Concurrent with his reproductive health campaigns was a focus on poverty reduction, with an emphasis on incorporating women in economic development projects and educating children. Again, innovation was integral to the success of these programs, which ranged from creating school lunch farms--where students grow the produce used in school meals--to offering women loans where “non-pregnancy status” was used as collateral.

In the mid 1980s, as HIV/AIDS reached pandemic levels in Thailand, Mr. Viravaidya and PDA redoubled their efforts to combat the disease. In 1991 the government finally acknowledged the health crisis and joined Mr. Viravaidya’s crusade against AIDS.

By raising awareness about the illness and educating the population about both prevention and care, Thailand saw its annual rate of new infections fall by 90% between 1991 and 2000. Many of the HIV/AIDS programs forged cooperation between the business community and the government, generated understanding and acceptance of those living with HIV/AIDS, and, like the population programs before, married sustainable economic development with public health services.

With HIV/AIDS rates on the rise, and prostitution and human trafficking a widespread problem in Thailand, Mr. Viravaidya and PDA are continuing to generate and implement educational and economic programs. Whether through the restaurant chain Condoms and Cabbages or through post-tsunami relief work, Mr. Viravaidya’s charisma, imagination, and unique brand “social capitalism” are affecting change throughout Thailand and around the world.

Katherine Curtis is a Masters degree student in Georgetown University's Communication, Culture & Technology program and an editorial intern with OneWorld U.S.