For some of the journalists, it was the mummified human exhibits at a Thai temple hospice that made the strongest impression on this year's Thomson Reuters Foundation Reporting HIV/AIDS course; for others it was the harrowing but inspiring personal story of a former drug addict with HIV.
Guest speakers at the week-long course included a former Thai health minister who angered big pharmaceutical companies by getting round patents to provide drugs more cheaply to people with HIV, a senator turned activist, a documentary maker and a Buddhist abbot who runs the hospice.
Thirteen invited journalists from as far apart as Bolivia and Georgia, Thailand and Swaziland, Latvia and Pakistan also spent the week sharing their experiences, writing news exercises and discussing the best way to improve coverage of the still stigmatised disease.
They dived into a Bangkok red-light district to see a gay men's HIV testing clinic, and into suburban back streets to see a modest drop-in centre for drug users.
The venue for the farewell dinner after a busy week was an easy choice: Cabbages and Condoms, a restaurant named after a campaign by its owner to make the life-saving bits of rubber as common in the kingdom as cabbages.
In the run up to World Aids Day on 1st December, participants on the above workshop have written stories on the subject that you can read by clicking on the links below:
The course was one of the most incredible experiences that I Have. Thank you very much...
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23 Nov 2008 02:37:20 GMT
The course was one of the most incredible experiences that I Have. Thank you very much...