Community mobilization for AIDS prevention in Bangkok.

Bangkok is a city of eight million people with an increasing rate of HIV seroprevalence a formidable challenge to AIDS prevention program planners. It is hard to know where and how to reach people with relevant prevention messages while ensuring that the messages will apply to all populations at risk. Community mobilization however allows one to define and work with large urban populations through social networks. The AIDS Control and Prevention (AIDSCAP) Project contracted with the faculty of public health of Mahidol University to work with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to apply community mobilization methods to AIDS prevention. This pilot project is part of AIDSCAPs larger Comprehensive Bangkok Program whose goal is to check the sexual spread of HIV among the 1.5 million people aged 15-29 years in Bangkok. Sections on social networks and community mobilization conducting a community network diagnosis converting the information into action strengthening networks and lessons learned are presented. There have been encouraging results but the assessment of the impact of the community mobilization project in bringing together social networks local AIDS committees and technical agencies must await the larger evaluation of the AIDSCAP Thailand program.